Acts of Piracy
by Kathy Rose
Summary: Hoshi's the captain of a rogue Klingon ship, and Malcolm's sent to deal with the pirates. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Title: Acts of Piracy

Author: Kathy Rose

Category: Adventure/Romance

Warning: AU

Rating: M

Summary: Hoshi's the captain of a rogue Klingon ship, and Starfleet sends Malcolm to deal with the pirates

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to someone else, etc., etc., etc. I'm not making any money, I'm just having fun with the characters. Wish I'd thought of them first.

Author's Notes: Thanks to PJ for graciously consenting to beta this, and to Looneyluna for her encouragement to keep writing. I wrote this quite some time ago, but never got around to posting it here.

CHAPTER 1

Blood was everywhere -- yellow blood and purple blood.

Damn her crew! She would have to control them better to prevent this from happening again.

Striding across the bridge of the freighter, avoiding the bodies, she approached the huge Klingon who was poking at the navigation controls through the sparks and smoke of the wreckage.

"Kleth! I told you not to kill them!" she yelled over the noise of the dying ship.

"It was unavoidable," he responded, baring his teeth at her. "They fought us."

Growling her frustration, she swung her arm up and struck him on the side of the head as hard as she could. Her fury lent strength to the blow, and the Klingon's head was moved by the impact. A mere fraction, but it moved all the same.

"You are getting stronger, little one," he hissed affectionately. Lowering his voice even more, he added, "I could not stop my men, and you do not want them to turn on you."

Slamming her gauntleted fist against the console in frustration, some of her anger was released with the pain, and she saw a drop of her red blood mingle with another, lighter-colored spatter on the metal.

"The ship has been too badly damaged," Kleth said over the roar of the chaos around them. "Its orbit is decaying, and there is no way to fix what is wrong before it is pulled down by the planet's gravity."

"Damn it!" Once again her rage boiled over, her plans thwarted. She needed a captured ship as a prize. Now she would have to start over.

Straightening from his useless task, the Klingon motioned for her to join him. "We must go," he said.

Stepping to his side, Hoshi took a deep breath, and waited for the transporter beam to take her.

_Elsewhere in the quadrant..._

The lean dark-haired man strode onto the bridge of Enterprise, glancing around at the crewmembers occupied with their tasks. A Vulcan was at the tactical console. A handsome young man was at the helm, and a striking blonde was at the communications station. She would be monitoring only, not sending any transmissions, as they had been under orders to maintain a communications blackout ever since his scout ship had been pulled into the launch bay less than ten minutes ago.

What he didn't see as he looked around was the captain.

The Vulcan, whose name was T'Pol, he recalled from the dossier he had been given, spoke when he'd completed his visual inspection of the bridge. "The captain is waiting for you in his ready room."

With the barest of nods in her direction, Reed turned and headed for the briefing he was to give Capt. Jonathan Archer. He wasn't looking forward to it.

He rang the chime at the ready room and heard a muffled "Come in." Entering, he found Archer seated at his desk.

"Commander Reed, I presume?" Archer asked.

Reed disliked obvious questions even more than obvious answers. With a curt nod, he acknowledged his identity and handed over the data chip that would give him command of the mission, and possibly more if Archer fought him. He waited in silence as Archer inserted the chip in the computer access port and read the orders that scrolled across the screen.

He saw Archer clench a fist as he neared the end of the information. When he finished and blanked the screen, barely suppressed fury was written across his face as he turned to face Reed.

Reed couldn't blame the man. He'd familiarized himself with Archer's record before setting foot on board. The Enterprise's captain was an exemplary officer who had, so far, commanded well. He and his crew had done battle on numerous occasions with the pirates plaguing the outer colonies. His bravery was well-documented, and his crew was loyal to him, having given their trust to him totally after he had saved the ship during several seemingly impossible situations.

"I'm supposed to turn command of Enterprise over to you?" Archer asked.

"Technically, no, sir," Reed said. "I am only in charge of the mission."

"But, for all intents and purposes, I will have to defer to you when it comes to this mission?"

"Yes, you must defer to me," Reed said evenly, not liking telling this man his command was being undermined, but knowing it was necessary.

"I don't understand why Starfleet is allowing this. We've been holding our own against the pirates," Archer stated as he stood and strode over toward him.

"Begging your pardon, sir, but that is exactly why. You've been holding your own, and nothing more," Reed said, not backing down. "It is Starfleet Command's opinion that this stalemate cannot be allowed to continue. Too many resources and lives are being destroyed."

"And you're here to change that?" Archer asked sarcastically.

"Yes, sir, I am."

Reed waited in the uncomfortable silence which followed. Whether he would have to assume total command of Enterprise to ensure the success of the mission would depend solely on how Archer wanted to play it.

Archer glared at him for a few moments, then turned to pace to the window. Reed knew Archer well enough from his record to know that he was weighing his options and, ultimately, what was best in the long run. The least that could be said about Archer was that he was fair, so he allowed the captain to come to a decision on his own.

Not looking at him, Archer said, "I expect a full briefing from you with the senior officers in an hour, Commander Reed. In the meantime, you'll be assigned private quarters."

Reed felt a tiny surge of relief. He hadn't wanted to start his mission with a fight with this man.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Hoshi picked at the food on her plate. She really, really hated it when her food moved. Having nothing but Klingon cuisine had led to the loss of the little extra fat she'd been carrying around on her hips, but that was the only good thing.

She had taken off her gauntlets and breastplate before she sat down to eat, finding the looser, softer undershirt much more comfortable. Now, however, she had the urge to put the armor back on. Leave it to Klingons to fight even with their food, she thought, looking in distaste at the mass of writhing creatures on the plate.

Muttering a Klingon curse, she shoved the plate away as the door chime to her cabin sounded. She called out, "Nuqneh," the typical Klingon greeting of "What do you want?"

The door slid aside to reveal Kleth. He carried a plate and cup, and without invitation he set them on the table across from her.

"You must eat to keep up your strength, little one," he admonished in a voice soft for a Klingon, barely heard over the creak of his leathery armor as he sat down.

"I can't stand this stuff you eat, Kleth," she complained. "Besides, I'm not hungry."

The massive Klingon began to shove the food into his mouth, and she tried not to notice the stray bits that were beginning to fleck his beard. He took a long swallow from his cup and set it down with a clang.

"You must not take this setback too hard," he said more forcefully as he resumed eating.

"I can't imagine why I would," she retorted, though she knew sarcasm was usually lost on Klingons. From previous conversations, she knew Kleth would go ahead anyway and tell her.

"That ship," he said around a mouthful of gagh, "is only a small thing in the universe. There will be others."

"Great! You're probably the only Klingon philosopher in the universe, and you're on my ship." Hoshi stood and began to pace, not an easy thing to do in the cramped cabin. She managed to take two steps before she was stopped by a bulkhead and had to turn around to continue pacing.

Kleth watched her with a mixture of amusement and pride as she stalked back and forth like a caged tiger. "Ma'Hew did well when he chose you as a mate," he said quietly.

"Don't go there, Kleth," Hoshi said in a warning tone.

"Do you deny it? What you lack in stature you more than make up for in spirit and cunning. You have a warrior's soul."

"I don't care about my soul," she spat out.

"You will, one day."

Hoshi sat down heavily in her chair. "Not only are you a philospher, Kleth, but you must be the only Klingon who understands the Human concept of a soul." She paused to look fondly at him. "How did I get so lucky to find you?"

Kleth shrugged. "You didn't find me. Your mate did."

A dark shadow passed over her face. She couldn't allow herself to sink into the despair that threatened to overwhelm her whenever she thought of the past. She had to concentrate on the future and, more importantly, the here and now.

"We have to find another suitable ship," she said.

"We will," he affirmed.

"Soon.

"We will find it when we find it."

"Kleth! How can you be so calm? They murdered your friend, your cousin-of-adoption," she said, looking away as she added, "my husband."

"I have felt the blood rage, Hoshi, but I have tempered it." He picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth, a nicety he allowed for her alone, and she was touched by his gesture.

Leaning back in his chair, he took up his cup again and swallowed a good portion of its contents. He gazed at her with hooded eyes.

"What?" Hoshi asked, uneasy under his scrutiny.

"You, too, must temper your rage. I know it sounds contrary to the way of Klingons," he said with a hint of a smile, "but we Klingons, while we admire strength, admire even more those who have an honorable goal and strive with tireless patience to achieve it."

"That's the only thing holding the crew of the Falcon together, isn't it?" she asked, although she knew the answer.

"Yes. The warriors on this ship knew Ma'Hew, served under him, and by extension, they serve you. They see your anger, the fire that burns inside you, but they also see your determination. They are impressed that a Human has adopted our ways," he said with a wave of his hand at her Klingon attire.

Kleth paused to take another drink. "And they like a good fight," he admitted with a straight face.

Hoshi couldn't help it. She smiled. It wasn't something she'd done very much since Matthew had died.

But she doubted she'd ever laugh again.

* * *

"Until recently, the attacks by the pirates have been haphazard."

Reed glanced around at the assembled officers as he talked. In addition to Archer and T'Pol, who was in charge of security aboard Enterprise, three other officers were present for the briefing. Ensigns Mayweather and Shuemaker he had seen the first time he'd come to the bridge. The last officer was Cmdr. Charles Tucker III, a brilliant engineer but something of a loose cannon.

The man seemed personable enough, and had greeted him in a friendly manner when they'd been introduced. Reed had no doubt he'd be able to work with him, so long as the engineer didn't do something stupid, which was entirely possible if he was to be judged by some of the incidents noted in his record.

"Two months ago, the attacks began to follow a pattern," Reed said, calling up a map of the quadrant on the situation table. "The pirates have consistently begun to hit only two shipping lanes. It's as if they are looking for something in particular they know will be shipped over these routes."

"We'd figured that out on our own," Archer said a bit testily.

"What you probably don't know," Reed said without missing a beat, "is that there is something out of the ordinary that will be shipped on one of these two lanes."

There was an awkward silence as Reed let them wonder what that something could be.

"Well, what is it that's so important Starfleet assigned us to you?" Archer asked finally.

"A warp five engine," Reed said levelly.

"No way!" Tucker said. "Only Starfleet has that."

"Not any more," Reed said. "Certain members of the private sector have an interest in developing faster engines for legitimate purposes. One has managed to make a viable warp five engine, and is sending it to Arctura Colony for testing."

Mayweather tilted his head in curiosity. "Why Arctura?" he asked.

"The theory is that the farther away from Earth it is tested, the less information the company's competition will be able to glean about it," Reed answered.

"Why don't ya just tell them they can't do that?" Tucker asked, rubbing his chin.

"Contrary to what some think, Earth is not a dictatorship," Reed said. "Businesses are free to operate as they wish, within the law, of course. There is no law that says Starfleet can tell a business where it can test its products."

T'Pol spoke for the first time during the briefing. "Surely, if presented with the threat of piracy, this business can be persuaded not to send its new engine so far away for testing."

"You would think so," Reed said ruefully. "But you, of everyone here, must realize Humans don't always act rationally. The owners of this business believe the risk of their competitors gaining an edge is greater than the possibility of the engine being stolen. It's scheduled to leave Earth in three weeks. It will take two more weeks for it to reach Arctura.

"We can't let the engine fall into the pirates' hands," he continued as those around the situation table considered the situation. "Can you imagine what would happen if such a thing would happen? No shipping, no passenger liners would be safe."

Reed paused. He knew what Archer's response would be -- escort the ship in question safely to Arctura. But to Reed's way of thinking, that would be like shooting off a flare to let the pirates know exactly where to find it. Now that the pirates seemed to be joining together in some sort of organization, even the powerful Enterprise wouldn't be able to fight them all off at one time.

"What do you suggest we do?" Archer asked, and Reed knew it took a lot for the proud captain to ask that question.

Looking Archer in the eye, Reed replied, "We're not going to wait until the engine is in transit. We're going after the pirates now."

* * *

"We have picked up traces of a warp signature," the Klingon manning the helm reported.

"How fresh are the traces?" Hoshi demanded.

"Less than a day old."

Hoshi glanced at Kleth, who was in his customary place as befitted a Klingon first officer, standing beside and slightly behind her chair. She gave him a feral smile, which he returned.

"Pursuit course," Kleth ordered for her.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Hoshi was beginning to think this time they would succeed. They'd caught up to the freighter, which was limited to warp 2, and had quickly boarded it.

Unlike last time, however, none of this ship's crew had been killed. A few had been injured -- that was to be expected when anyone went against Klingons. But the freighter's captain had quickly decided there was no way his crew could win this fight and had prudently surrendered.

"The last of them has been put aboard the escape pods," Kleth reported.

"Then let's get rid of them," Hoshi said, moving to the console on the freighter's bridge that would launch the pods.

Garef, who had taken over the helm, stopped her with his excited announcement. "Captain! There is a ship approaching at high warp!"

"What kind of ship?" Hoshi asked harshly as she rushed to look over his shoulder at the readout.

"An Earth ship," Galef said, sneering.

Kleth joined them. Peering at the readout, he sucked in his breath. "It is a Starfleet vessel," he said.

The rage that burned constantly as a low flame within her surged. "Damn it! Not now!"

She couldn't take on Starfleet. That wasn't part of her agenda. The last thing she needed was Starfleet hounding her, making her task more difficult.

"We're going to have to abandon this one, too," she said to Kleth. "There's no way we can take it in tow and get away with it."

She saw the intensity in his dark eyes dampen a bit as he came to the same conclusion. They were no match for a Starfleet vessel, but she knew he would have enjoyed such a fight.

"Return to the Falcon!" Kleth ordered at the top of his voice.

So well-trained were the crew that none opposed his order, although they couldn't hide their disgruntled expressions. Those nearest the airlock would reboard the Falcon that way, but the rest would transport back. Hoshi watched as two of the Klingons on the bridge were beamed off before she ran back to the console that controlled the escape pods.

She hurriedly pressed some buttons, releasing the escape pods. "That should keep those 'fleeters busy for a while," she said in grim satisfaction.

Two more Klingons were beamed away, and Kleth grinned at her from across the bridge. He and Hoshi were always the last to leave any ship they had boarded. It was a point of pride for Hoshi, as captain, to be the last to return, making sure her crew got back safely to the Falcon.

"What's taking so long?" Hoshi asked Kleth after a few moments passed and she didn't feel the familiar tingle of the transporter. Time was running out for them to escape.

Kleth opened his communication module. "Report! Why haven't we been beamed back!"

"The transporter circuit has overloaded," came the reply. "Resetting now, but it has to recharge."

"Damn it all to hell!" Hoshi screamed, feeling her aspirations slip away.

Kleth came to stand by her so it would be easier for the transporter operator to lock onto them. Giving her a fierce smile, he pulled the disruptor from the holster at his waist.

"We will be ready for them, little one," he said with a growl as he put his back to hers.

* * *

"Are you sure this is safe?" Mayweather asked as he, Reed, T'Pol and two security officers stepped onto Enterprise's transporter platform.

"It's been done before," Reed replied.

"With Humans?"

"Yes, with Humans," T'Pol interjected, then added almost as an after-thought, "and other life forms."

Reed shot the Vulcan a smirk, amused by her dry wit. If he had to go into a confrontation with pirates, his first choice of allies would be cool, logical, strong Vulcans who knew how to fight.

"We're beaming directly onto the bridge," T'Pol continued. "Do not expect it to be unoccupied."

All five held their phase pistols ready.

* * *

Running her gaze around the perimeter of the bridge, Hoshi saw the sparkling effects of a transporter as five people materialized. They were smart, she'd give them that -- they weren't materializing clustered in a group, but at various spots around the bridge.

She could take out one, possibly two, before she would draw return fire. The fact that she would be shooting to injure, not kill, would slow her down.

She drew a deep breath, and behind her heard Kleth do the same. As one, they dropped into crouches, careful not to fire until the materialization process was complete. To do so any sooner could kill the person, as the disruptor beam would spear through their insides.

Kleth got off the first shot, causing the pistol to fly out of the hand of one of the Starfleet men. Hoshi's shot a second later clipped a Vulcan female's arm, causing her to stumble backward.

She heard Kleth fire again, followed quickly by the distinctive sound of Starfleet-issue pistols being fired, but her attention had shifted to a dark-haired man standing near the navigation console. She hesitated a second as she took in his appearance, riveted by his clear grey-blue eyes.

Her delay was her downfall and, as he locked eyes with her, he fired, his shot striking her in the chest.

Sliding into oblivion, she thought it odd that being shot by a phase pistol felt remarkably like the tingle of the transporter.

* * *

"They got away," Archer said as Reed stepped off the transporter platform.

Reed allowed the irritation he felt to be heard in his voice. "Why didn't you fire on them?"

"We couldn't. There were too many escape pods in the way," the captain replied. "Where are the others?"

"Mayweather's manning the helm until the freighter's crew is back on board," he said, his British accent crisp as he bit out the words, frustrated by their failure to stop the pirates. "T'Pol's checking to make sure the Klingons didn't leave any booby traps."

"Klingons?" Archer echoed. "That was an old Klingon warbird, but pirates don't always use ships from their own planets."

Reed grunted in agreement before saying, "The freighter captain said all of the pirates were Klingons, except for one." He paused, remembering the brown eyes that had stared into his across the freighter's bridge. "There was a Human woman with them."

"A Human woman?"

"Do you need your hearing checked, Captain?" Reed asked sarcastically as he made his way out of the transporter alcove, followed by Archer. "You seem to be repeating parts of everything I'm saying."

"Commander Reed!"

Archer's bellow didn't stop Reed, but he did slow down enough that he could look back over his shoulder as he walked. "Yes, Captain?"

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To the bridge," he said. "If we hurry, we may be able to pick up their warp trail."

The two men made the rest of the trip to the bridge in silence. Archer's fuming didn't bother Reed in the slightest. He'd dealt with men like him before, and Archer would get over his snit soon enough.

Instead, his mind kept going back to those few moments on the freighter's bridge before the pirates had beamed away. The Human woman had been dressed in Klingon battle garb, albeit a down-sized version of it. She was a petite woman, attractive, black hair cascading over her shoulders to rest on the golden epaulets adorning the shoulders of her uniform. A gold sash had been draped around her hips. He found the whole idea of a Human woman in the voluptuous leather outfit worn by Klingon warrior females provocative.

She had gazed at him down the barrel of a disruptor, clearly intent on shooting him. What had made her hesitate?

More importantly, what was she doing with a band of rogue Klingons?

Reed went to an unoccupied station in the situation room, allowing Archer to issue the commands to start the scanning for the warp trail. As he pondered where to start his research, Reed was struck by the fact that Klingons usually didn't allow their victims to get away, so the escape pod diversion had to have been her idea, and to know how to do that, she had to be familiar with spaceships.

Accessing the Starfleet data banks at the console, he entered a series of commands for employment listings of Human women occupied in the interstellar shipping trade. Entering a description of the woman's appearance narrowed the results to several dozen. One by one, he called up pictures of the women on the console, deleting those that didn't match.

He'd gone through about thirty of the entries when he stopped. The face of the woman from the freighter stared out at him from the screen. It had to be her -- the same raven hair, the same intense eyes.

Reed was gazing thoughtfully at the screen when Archer walked over. "Is that her?" he asked.

Reed mentally gave the captain points for realizing what he was doing. "Yes, that's her. Hoshi Sato. Co-owner of H-S Shipping."

"What's she doing out here with a bunch of Klingons?" Archer asked, voicing the same question that Reed was pondering.

"We'll have to do a bit more research to find that out," Reed answered, punching more commands into the console. "I doubt, however, that our data banks will be able to tell us why she was wearing the rank insignia of a Klingon captain."


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Hoshi was nursing the worst headache she'd ever had. The slightest sound made her head ring violently, and although it hurt to listen to him, she was grateful that Kleth had a soft voice -- for a Klingon, that is.

"This will help, little one," he said from where he sat at the table in her cabin.

Wincing, she pushed herself up into a sitting position on the bunk. Without a word, she held out her hand and Kleth thrust a mug into it. Holding it to her lips, she inhaled the aroma and almost gagged. Blood wine. Kleth swore it would lessen the pain from being stunned.

She drew a deep breath, exhaled it, and tilted the mug up, swallowing several times in order to down the entire thing. "Ew!" she gasped when she finished, then put a hand to her head as her own voice sent sharp lances of pain shooting through her temples. She looked sourly at Kleth, who was chuckling.

"No other Human could have done that in your condition," he said admiringly. "The crew should have seen that."

"Oh, shut up," she said, but not as harshly as she might have. Kleth had been right -- the pain was already beginning to subside. With that distraction being pushed away, she was able to concentrate on the matters at hand.

"Status?" she barked hoarsely.

"We are now cruising at warp 2 in the scheduled search pattern," he responded immediately, his attitude that of a first officer reporting to his captain. "We sustained no damage from the Starfleet vessel. However, the transporter malfunction is a warning we should not ignore."

Glaring at him with one eyebrow raised, she nodded for him to continue.

"We must find someplace to obtain supplies and perform maintenance," Kleth said. "We have been lucky to have remained unscathed by our recent...activities. But it has been at the cost of diminishing supplies and impaired efficiency of the ship."

Hoshi turned her face aside, considering his words. He was right. She had been so focused on her course of action that she deliberately ignored some things which shouldn't have been overlooked. Once again she was gratified by Kleth's trust in her. On any other Klingon ship, it would have been the first officer's duty to remove her for such negligence.

But this was her dead husband's ship, and Kleth had served him faithfully. Now she and Kleth were bound together in a quest for revenge and justice. Still, she knew he would only give her one chance in such a situation. That was one more chance than Klingons usually allowed.

"Have helm lay in a course for the nearest place we can restock and do maintenance," she ordered.

She leaned back against the bulkhead behind the bunk as he used the comm panel to relay her order. A guttural response acknowledging the order came over the comm before the connection was cut. Hoshi felt the ship tilt slightly as the course change was implemented. That alone was enough to tell her she was on a Klingon ship -- their stabilizers weren't as good as those on Earth vessels.

"Well, Kleth," she said. "That was a bust."

"A bust?" he asked curiously.

"A waste. Totally unproductive."

"Ah," he said as he understood the meaning of the word in relation to their attempt to capture the freighter. "There will be other opportunities."

"I know, but I can't help but feel as if time is running out since Starfleet showed up," she said, heaving herself off the bed. She was still wearing her body armor and full captain's regalia, and the damned stuff was heavy. She moved to sit at the table, and poured herself more of the blood wine from the flagon Kleth had thoughtfully brought with him.

She fell silent as she stared at the dark alcohol, finding her thoughts going to her husband. She missed Matthew so much. He would know what to do in this mess, but then, she thought ironically, if he were here, they wouldn't be in this situation. As she conjured up his face in her mind and mentally caressed it, another face slowly superimposed over his, and with a start she realized it was the dark-haired man she had seen on the freighter. She had only seen him for a few seconds, and yet she had felt an attraction.

Shame immediately washed over her. How could she be thinking about another man when Matthew had been dead less than six months?

Pushing the image of the compelling man away, she stated what Kleth already knew. "We've got to have a ship to give Shidak, or we won't be taken into his organization. That's the only way we can get close to him."

"He will pay, little one," Kleth said with a calm assurance. "My honor on that."

* * *

Reed had transferred a computer tie-in to his quarters where he could work in private. He accessed everything he could think of, from government records to news articles, in his search for more information about Hoshi Sato.

After three hours, he had very little to show for his search. She had worked on an independent freighter running between Earth and some of its colonies for three years. Then she had married the owner of a freight line, and his company was renamed H-S Shipping when her husband had named her half owner of the company as a wedding present.

Some wedding present, Reed thought, impressed. H-S Shipping had a fleet of twenty-two cargo vessels of varying sizes, and had a reputation of being fast and reliable. The company had a large profit margin, and its record was clean, with no indication of any connection to piracy other then being preyed upon by pirates on numerous occasions in the last year or so.

He frowned as he read the most recent news article, dated six months ago. Matthew Hayes had been killed when one of his ships had been boarded by pirates. He'd been on the freighter specifically to see what kind of conditions his crews were operating under in regard to the threat of piracy.

Looks like he found out, Reed thought. The idiot shouldn't have fought back. Most freighters were ill-equipped to deal with pirates. They were too slow to outrun the pirates, weighed down as they were with cargo, and were poorly armed, if armed at all. To fight led to only one outcome -- death.

Reed scanned through some business articles, and came across a brief story that reported Hoshi Sato, who had assumed full control of H-S Shipping upon the death of her husband, had sold the business. He could find no further mention of her after that.

It didn't make sense. Her husband had been killed by pirates, and now she was a pirate herself? A piece to the puzzle was missing, but Reed was damned if he knew what it was.

He leaned forward and set the computer on a new search. Sometimes old ships found their way into unusual hands. He sat back, expecting a long wait, as the computer starting looking for any information about ships of Klingon origin owned by Humans. He was surprised when almost immediately the computer beeped, indicating a match.

"H-S Shipping," he read out loud. A Klingon warbird, Falcon, was listed as one of the company's ships prior to Matthew Hayes' death. Cross-checking the manifest of ships operated by the new owners of the company, he found no ship named Falcon. Thinking for a moment, he counted the number of ships and found there were only twenty-one. One was missing.


	5. Chapter 5

Forgot to mention that I'm going to try to post more than one chapter a day, as this is a rather lengthy story. And fififolle, thank you for your kind comments!

CHAPTER 5

"I don't like this," Archer said as he strode after Reed on the way to the launch bay.

"You don't have to like it," Reed retorted, tired of Archer constantly offering his opinion. "It's the best lead we've got right now. The warbird's warp trail led to that planet, but we can't show up with Starfleet's biggest ship and start demanding answers. That will only drive the pirates away."

Archer huffed as they entered the bay. "You're going to be by yourself, and we won't be able to get there in time if something goes wrong."

Reed turned to give the captain a sarcastic smile. "I didn't know you cared, sir. I thought you'd be pleased to have me out of your hair -- perhaps permanently, if things don't go well."

"Damn it, Reed!" Archer glared dangerously at the shorter man. "You know what I mean. I don't care if you go off and get yourself killed. In fact, I'd probably be rather pleased if that happened. But we both want to stop these pirates, and that's what we should be focusing on."

Reed had the grace to look chagrined. "Sorry, sir. My remarks were totally uncalled for."

When Archer backed down and gave him a curt nod to accept his apology, Reed was reminded of why this man made such a good leader. He was beginning to think Jonathan Archer could work with the devil himself if the cause was worth it.

Reed turned back to his scout ship and opened the hatch. Climbing in, he took one step and was at the pilot's station. Smaller than a standard Starfleet shuttlepod, the scout ship could, in a pinch, carry three or four people, provided those other than the pilot didn't mind becoming well acquainted. Yet it contained all the amenities one person could need -- a bunk, a food storage and preparation area, and a tiny lavatory hidden away behind a sliding panel.

Archer stuck his head in the hatch and looked around with interest. "This is Starfleet?" he asked. "I don't see any markings, inside or out."

"Starfleet designed it, yes," Reed answered absently, occupied with his preflight checklist, "but any identifying marks were deliberately left off. It was designed with covert operations in mind."

"What's its top speed?"

Reed glanced at the captain before answering. "Warp 5.5. And that's classified."

"Not among certain members of my engineering staff it isn't," Archer said with a smug smile.

Reed opened his mouth to ask what that crack was about when he heard the launch bay door open, followed by the cheerful voice of the ship's chief engineer. "Hey, Cap'n! I'm ready to go."

"What the bloody hell?" Reed said, getting up from the pilot's chair to look out the open hatch, Archer stepping out of his way.

Commander Tucker was standing by the scout ship holding a tool box and a small duffle bag. He was dressed in civilian clothing, just as Reed was.

Reed shot a glare at Archer. "No way. This is a one-person operation."

"Just how much experience have you had with warp engines, Mr. Reed?" Archer asked mildly.

"Enough."

"That's what I thought," the captain said and turned to his chief engineer. "Get on board, Trip. He's going to need your help."

"No, I'm not," Reed interjected.

"Yes, you are," Archer said. "I'm willing to bet you're a good pilot, but if something goes wrong with this thing, Trip is the one who will know how to fix it."

"And what exactly do you know about this engine?" Reed asked Tucker in exasperation.

"I helped with the initial design phase of the 5.5 before Enterprise was launched," the tall blond said. "And I've been kept apprised of its progress ever since. I know that it's really still just experimental and probably shouldn't be out in space at all yet."

Reed eyed the man. If Tucker knew about the engine, then he knew how tempermental it could be. Considering the warp 5.5 engine was classified, no wonder no mention of Tucker's involvement with its development was listed in his service record.

Score one for Archer, he thought, and gestured for Tucker to enter the ship.

Just before Reed slammed that hatch shut, he paused to look out at Archer and said, "Thank you. I think."

* * *

Hoshi was bored and impatient. She'd been sitting on the bridge for two hours, watching the planet on the viewscreen. Her mood was only going to get worse, she knew.

Kleth had gone with the teams to the surface to collect the needed supplies and parts. Unfortunately, the planet they were orbiting wasn't known for its industrial production. Truth be told, it wasn't known for much of anything, but it was a safe haven for those who didn't want to answer questions. For those who practiced piracy as a way of life, it was a quiet place to stop for resupply.

"It will take thatPetaQthree days to fabricate the circuit for the transporter," Kleth reported when he returned from his initial visit to the planet's surface.

"Three days?" Hoshi cried in disbelief, then sighed. "I suppose we should be happy that he can make it and we don't have to go elsewhere."

Growling, she stood up to pace the bridge. Such was the esteem in which the crew held her that a few even flinched as she neared them. No matter how many times she got this reaction, however, Hoshi was still amused. If they only knew it was all part of an act, and that most times after she forced her anger to erupt into a violent display of Klingon temper she would have a splitting migraine, they might not think so highly of her.

"Come, Kleth!" she ordered. "We will be here for three days. Let us go to the planet and see what amusements it offers."

With a respectful nod, he acceded to her wishes, and followed her off the bridge. As they rode the turbolift to the transporter room, he ventured to speak. "Your manner of speech is becoming more and more Klingon, little one."

She grimaced, realizing the truth of his words. She was even beginning to think in Klingon. "Occupational hazard," she said, and was rewarded by his laugh, which could be heard a deck away.

The planet didn't have much to offer in the way of amusement, Hoshi found, but it did have a restaurant that catered to offworlders in its main city. As she and Kleth entered the dingy establishment, she sighed inwardly as she saw a number of the patrons look uneasily in their direction. Even here, with only Kleth, she would have to act the part of a Klingon captain. Glancing around, she wondered how many of the other customers were pirates.

Putting a sneer on her face, she stalked after Kleth to a table on one side of the room and allowed him to signal for service. A short being covered in fur and no taller than her shoulder scurried to their table. From a pocket on the grimy apron it wore it took out a flimsy paper menu and placed it on the table before scampering off again.

Kleth glanced at the printed menu and shoved it toward Hoshi with a muttered curse. "It's all English to me."

"Actually, it's Slivari," Hoshi said as she looked over the menu. "Meat?"

Her companion grunted in agreement. "And something to drink."

Hoshi nodded, her gaze running down the list of meals. The waiter scurried back over to the table and Hoshi told him, in his native tongue, what they wanted to eat and drink.

"You should stop that," Kleth grumbled after the waiter left. "We are all proud of your knowledge of others' tongues, but doing that in public will only draw attention."

Hoshi stared expressionlessly at him for a moment. "Kleth, you have no sense of fun."

He merely growled at her, but it was softened by a gleam in his eye.

When their food arrived, Hoshi breathed in its aroma thankfully. At last, something that didn't move on her plate and which smelled good.

For a few minutes she put everything else out of her mind as she concentrated on the meat prepared in a creamy sauce accompanied by something that resembled noodles. When her initial hunger had been sated, she noticed Kleth watching her as he gnawed on a roasted haunch of some kind of beast.

"What?" she asked, her mouth full of food.

"You are even eating like a Klingon now."

She reached over and slapped his arm, just as any self-respecting Klingon female would. He responded by lifting his head back and roaring with laughter, as would any Klingon male treated in such a manner by a younger female relative it was his duty to protect.

* * *

Reed watched from a booth in the corner as the Human woman hit the huge Klingon with her hand. He couldn't believe the Klingon didn't strike her down for such impertinence. He had to be the biggest Klingon that Reed had ever seen, and would be able to flatten the woman with a flick of his wrist.

But then again, everything about a Human female leading a band of Klingons seemed wrong. So why shouldn't that behemoth laugh when she showed her displeasure by hitting him? A niggling thought invaded his mind as he wondered what else they did together. Perhaps that explained the Klingon's lenience, although it wouldn't explain her captaincy.

Reed couldn't deny that she was beautiful. And even as she had shoved food into her mouth, there was a certain delicacy to her movements. Probably the first real food she's had in some time, he mused.

He saw her attention shift in his direction, and he hastily ducked his head, hoping to hide his face, but he was too slow. He'd been caught gawking like a schoolboy. At a word from her, the big Klingon was up and striding in his direction.

Reed didn't want to get into a fight but there was no way he could get away now. All it would take would be for either the woman or the Klingon to yell one word -- Starfleet -- and he'd be as good as dead. He estimated half the patrons in the establishment were pirates, and they would join in any such confrontation.

He only had time to stand up and brace himself before the Klingon was upon him.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Kleth grabbed Reed by the front of his jacket and lifted him off his feet. He was dangling a good half-meter off the floor as the Klingon's companion approached slowly, taking in his predicament.

"You again," she said, and he could hear amusement in her lilting voice. There was no trace of the vocal scratchiness he would have expected from someone who spoke Klingon as she probably had to do on a daily basis.

For the moment he was at their whim, and he didn't say anything.

The woman -- Hoshi -- made a show of walking around him as he was held in the air, looking him up and down as if she were contemplating buying a cut of meat at a butcher's shop. She even had the cheek to reach out and squeeze his thigh, tsking under her breath as she did so.

"Ah, Kleth! I'm afraid we'll have to throw him back. He's a little on the scrawny side," she said loudly to her companion, who laughed heartily at her wit and tossed him back into the booth.

Reed landed sideways on the seat with a "whoomp" that expelled the air from his lungs. As he sprang upright in the seat, he found a disruptor aimed at him not more than five centimeters from his nose. Raising his gaze from the gun to its owner, he saw brown eyes peering back at him suspiciously. He realized that, if he wasn't so embarrassed by being caught like this, he could drown in those eyes.

Even more surprising, she used her other hand to shove him farther into the booth, then slid in next to him, lowering her gun as she did so. Any move he would have made was forestalled, however, by the huge Klingon, disruptor in hand, sitting down across from him in the booth.

"Can't you say anything?" she asked Reed mockingly.

"What would you have me say?" he asked cautiously in return.

She smiled as she stared unblinkingly at him. "Tell me why you are here. Don't lie."

Reed continued to look her in the eye, but when he didn't say anything, she prodded him in the ribs with her gun. "Well?"

"If I don't say anything, I won't lie," he said.

He watched in fascination as her lips curled into a snarl and her eyes narrowed. The transformation from Human to Klingon took only a moment, and he was startled by the change in her.

"Tell me why I've seen you twice in a week!" she demanded, and a low growl from the massive Klingon underscored her request.

"I'm with Starfleet," he said.

"I know that from the last time we met," she said, grasping his jacket and giving him a shake. "Tell me something I don't know."

"I'm going to stop you."

He could read her puzzlement by the furrowing of her brow. She let go of him, exchanged a glance with her Klingon companion and seemed to find something in his stoic expression. Returning her gaze to him, he saw a new, playful sparkle in her eyes.

"You would be better off tracking other pirates, 'fleeter," she said. "We're not the ones you need to catch."

"I beg to differ. I've seen one of your attempted acts of piracy," he retorted.

The hardness came back to her features, and he was sorry he had goaded her.

"I'll tell you again," she hissed. "We are not the ones you need to catch. There is another, more important pirate in this quadrant."

"And who is that?"

The playfulness came back into her eyes. "If I told you that," she said as she slid out of the booth, "I'd be doing your job, now wouldn't I?"

With a barked command at her companion, she got up and strode away, an incredibly diminutive figure that should have looked ridiculous in the Klingon battle garb but who instead radiated strength and disdain with every step.

"It would be best to do as she says," the Klingon said as he rose to his towering height and glowered down at Reed. "If you bother her further, I will have to kill you."

* * *

Reed was in a foul mood when he returned to the scout ship on the outskirts of the city. His disposition wasn't improved when he found Tucker fast asleep in his pilot's chair, feet propped on the console. He gave the chair a shove that sent Tucker spinning and his feet sliding to the floor with a thump. 

"What?" the engineer mumbled sleepily.

"Get out of my chair," Reed said. "We're leaving."

Tucker clumsily got up, his brain still groggy, and tried to wipe the sleep from his eyes. "What'd ya find out?"

"Not much."

"Well, something's got ya all fired up. Mind telling me what's goin' on?"

Reed activated the navigation panel as Tucker took three short steps to the bunk and sat down.

"That woman at the freighter attack -- Hoshi Sato -- she was here," Reed said. "She's probably left by now, and we're going to pick up her trail with the tracker I put on her."

"You were close enough to put something like that on her?" Tucker asked in amazement. "What's she like? I've never heard of a Human livin' and workin' among Klingons before. She's got to be different."

"She's different, all right." Reed frowned as studied the readouts on the console. "For one thing, I expected her and her crew to run. She's gone back to her ship, but they're still in orbit."

Tucker looked thoughtful. "Maybe they can't leave."

"What makes you say that?"

"Maybe they need something here. Ya said so yourself -- this is a popular place for pirates to do business."

It was Reed's turn to look thoughtful. "Maybe we're not leaving yet after all."

* * *

Kleth had seen her angry before, but it was nothing compared to her temper when they returned to the Falcon. No one was safe from her ire as she stalked about, berating the crew for not being further along with the maintenance the ship needed. 

"Garef!" she yelled at the helmsman. "Your mother should have drowned you when you were born. An idiot could have fixed that navigational relay by now!"

Kleth prudently stayed out of her way as he followed behind her. What the crew saw was the loyal first officer, ready to implement any of their captain's orders, but he had another motive. The crew respected her, but there was always the possibility that one of them might turn against her, and so he played his role of bodyguard as unobtrusively as possible, hiding it beneath the exterior of a Klingon officer performing his duty.

He was secretly pleased by the spirit she was displaying at the moment but concerned by its source. He had seen her face when she had looked at the Starfleet man in the restaurant. She had been without a mate for a number of months now, and it was natural she would be attracted to one of her own. Whether that one was a worthy successor to Ma'Hew remained to be seen.

His attentive eyes caught her sharp gesture to follow him off the bridge. She did not speak on the way to her cabin, but he could see her frustration in the set of her shoulders and the stiffness of her walk. Once in her quarters, she whirled to face him.

"Damn it, Kleth! How could Starfleet be here?"

She slammed her fist against the bulkhead, and Kleth resisted the urge to laugh when he saw her wince. Sometimes her rage hurt herself more than it did the object of her rage. Yes, she had a Klingon heart indeed.

"Calm yourself, little one," he said softly, but succeeded only in fanning her anger. Before she could speak, he added, "Remember Ma'Hew."

Hoshi immediately froze and stared at him. "Don't do that, Kleth," she said in a dangerously quiet voice.

She drew a shuddering breath and began to pace. He remained by the door, only his eyes moving as he watched her stalk to and fro. He knew she would speak her mind once her rage cooled.

"This is getting so complicated," she said at last, dropping down into a chair. "We need to leave, but we can't until we get that part. It's going to be two days yet. Who knows what will happen in that time?"

"What could he possibly do to stop us?" he said, going right to the heart of the problem. "There is no sign of a Starfleet vessel in the area, and he is but one man."

"I know, Kleth, but he bothers me. There's something about him..."

Kleth watched her face carefully as he spoke, knowing his words would upset her further. "You are attracted to him, little one."

Hoshi's head shot up and her glare drilled into him like daggers. "How dare you!"

"I dare, because it is true," Kleth responded, refusing to give ground. "You are a strong woman. You need a strong mate."

"Get out!" she screamed, picking a mug up off the table and throwing it at him.

Discretion is the better part of valor, she had once told him. He decided she was wise and followed that advice, leaving her cabin as her curses echoed into the corridor.

One of the engineers, Malin, was approaching with a data padd. Seeing Kleth's abrupt departure from their captain's cabin and hearing the screamed invective, he halted uncertainly as the door slid shut.

"Do not disturb her now, Malin," Kleth ordered.

"She is in one of her rages?" he asked.

"Very much so."

Malin nodded and stated simply, "One of the markings of a good captain."

Kleth, falling into step beside Malin as he turned to leave, could only grunt in agreement.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Hoshi's anger burned itself out shortly after Kleth left her cabin. She couldn't be angry at the Klingon. He had stated the truth -- she was attracted to the Starfleet man. Leave it to the big Klingon to throw it in her face in order for her to admit it.

With a flush of shame she realized that, ever since that brief moment on the freighter's bridge, she'd been thinking less often of Matthew and more and more about... She didn't even know his name!

Turning to her computer, she quickly tapped into communications and set up a link with the Earth information network. She brought up what data she could about Starfleet. She didn't try to access its service records directly, but instead entered a request about resources available to the shipping industry through Starfleet.

When queried for more specifics, she typed in her old H-S Shipping identification code for use with Starfleet. Every company doing business with Starfleet had one, and she and her husband had been under contract a few times to haul raw materials to Earth for Starfleet's ship construction program. If the new owners hadn't changed the number, she'd be in.

With satisfaction she watched as a new menu popped up. Choosing the heading "contacts and personnel," she scrolled down the list that appeared. She checked the pictures accompanying the brief biographies under the "piracy countermeasures" section, and was rewarded when she saw his face.

She read the small amount of information accompanying the picture. Cmdr. Malcolm Reed, Starfleet Operations, former security officer, currently assigned to the anti-piracy division. Field operations, not available at this time.

She leaned back as she gazed at the searing blue-grey eyes that stared out at her from the screen. The information told her nothing she hadn't figured out already, other than his name. But at least she had a name to go with his face.

Perhaps when this was over, she'd drop a line to Starfleet telling them how easy it was to gain access to information about their personnel, she thought in grim amusement.

* * *

Reed was glad to be leaving. As he engaged the scout ship's thrusters, he was relieved this dirty planet was soon going to be behind him. 

The past two days had been nothing but aggravation. He had visited various businesses that might be supplying the pirates, but had come away with no new information. The tight-lipped merchants wouldn't talk about their customers. It had been a fruitless task, but he'd had to pass the time somehow as they'd waited for the Klingons to leave orbit. Tucker would be dead by now if he hadn't.

First, there were the close quarters on the scout ship. And as if tripping over the man every time he tried to do something wasn't enough, Tucker talked. Constantly. Cheerfully. In that dreadful accent. Even in his sleep.

Reed had put up with it for six hours after his return from the restaurant before he couldn't take it any more. Knowing he might need Tucker if there was engine trouble whenever they did get back into space, he decided it would be better to go back to the city than to kill him. Hence his wasted efforts trying to gain information about Hoshi Sato and her band of renegade Klingons.

Thankfully, Tucker was silent as they lifted off. Reed laid in a low run at quarter impulse around the planet's surface so they would look like one of the locals to avoid the Klingons spotting them as the Falcon broke orbit. Reed was sure they would be scanning for anyone following them.

He waited until the Falcon had departed the system, then punched in the course heading as relayed by the tracker. Soon after leaving the planet's atmosphere, he had the scout ship traveling at warp 3, matching the course and speed of his quarry in the hope he could masquerade as a sensor ghost.

"Intermix is runnin' a bit on the hot side," Tucker said from behind his shoulder where he was watching the engine monitors.

"Is that going to cause a problem?" Reed asked.

"Shouldn't, as long as we keep an even speed."

Reed let out his breath in a gust. The experimental engine had been performing flawlessly since they'd left Enterprise, almost as if it were a sentient being and knew there was a babysitter along. So far, all Tucker had done was talk to the damn thing and it had behaved perfectly.

He hoped their luck held, and that it included Hoshi Sato leading him to the pirate organization's leader.

* * *

Hoshi felt the tension that had been a constant annoyance the last few days lessen as the Falcon put the miserable planet behind them. She'd been like a coiled spring the entire time they'd waited for the transporter circuit to be fabricated. 

Now it had been installed, and Malin had declared the transporter operational. She'd given him one of her rare full smiles at that news, and had laughed inwardly at the dazed expression that had crossed his face as his demanding captain had praised him in front of the entire bridge crew.

"Kleth!" she said imperiously. "We should celebrate leaving that worthless place. Open the barrels of blood wine tonight."

At her announcement, a round of cheers rang out on the bridge, Kleth's voice among them.

The cheers died away when Garef turned from the helm to face her. "There is another ship following our course."

Hoshi's tension hitched back up, and she exchanged a glance with Kleth. "It's him," she said.

Kleth looked at the readout on Garef's console and considered. Looking back at her, he said, "It could be a sensor ghost."

"No, it's too much of a coincidence." She straightened the gold sash on her hips as she looked at the stars on the viewscreen, trying to figure a course of action.

"Your orders?" Kleth asked.

"Continue our present course and speed. For now, we will act as if we are unaware of it," she said.

* * *

Reed watched the tracker's signal as they followed the Falcon. They had been on the pirate ship's trail for more than ten hours now. So far, the signal hadn't wavered. 

He looked back over his shoulder at the bunk and saw Tucker stretched out asleep. Giving thanks for small mercies, he closed his eyes, enjoying the silence. As he tried to relax, he closed his eyes and thought about Hoshi Sato.

He could picture her face in his mind, hear the soft inflections of her voice even when it was raised in anger. He wondered if her skin would feel as silky as it looked.

Stop it! he chided himself. He was on assignment. He couldn't allow himself to be distracted, much as he wanted to be. He would use her to lead him to bigger fish, that's all.

He squeezed his eyes shut even tighter as he heard Tucker begin to snore, and wondered if he could gag the man without waking him.

A beep from the navigation console made his eyes snap open. The Falcon had speeded up. He hurried to input the change into the helm control and could feel the scout ship surge ahead as it matched the warbird's new pace.

"What's goin' on?" Tucker asked as he sat up on the bunk.

"They've increased their speed."

"To what?" the engineer asked, getting up to move to the engine monitors.

"Three-point-five."

Tucker frowned at the monitors and made a few slight adjustments. "Oh, oh," he said, and began to remove the panel cover.

"What's the matter?" Reed asked.

"The intermix is actin' up. I'll try--"

A loud bang reverberated throughout the tiny ship.

"What was that?" Reed shouted, turning back to the controls to see that their speed was dropping rapidly.

Tucker's voice was strained as he frantically tore at something in the panel. "The injector is offline. Something must have moved it out of alignment. I'm going to have to go in manually and fix it."

"Do it fast," Reed said from the pilot's chair. "The Klingons have seen us."


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

Her patience exhausted, Hoshi had given the order to increase speed, trying to outrun their "ghost." No one was more surprised than she when the ghost had suddenly slowed and dropped out of warp to hang dead in space.

Her first inclination had been to keep going and get away from Reed. But then she realized he had given her an opportunity to solve the problem of gaining entry to Shidak's inner circle of pirate captains. It would be much easier to haul a ship in the docking bay than to tow one behind them.

So it was a small ship. But, it was Starfleet, despite its lack of markings. That ought to be worth something.

Hoshi was waiting in the docking bay when the scout ship was reeled in by the Falcon's tractor beam. Assuming her Klingon demeanor, she put a sneer on her face and watched as her men forced the small ship's hatch open.

"Come out, sons of targs!" Kleth yelled.

A moment passed before Reed appeared in the hatchway. His gaze swept the half dozen Klingons, all with weapons pointed at him. He stepped out slowly and stood aside as Tucker clambered out behind him.

Hoshi stepped forward. "We meet again...Malcolm Reed," she said, and saw his eyes narrow a fraction at the use of his name.

Getting into her role of a Klingon captain, she began to pace back and forth in front of him, glancing once at Tucker before returning her gaze to Reed as she spoke. "Your ploy to follow us failed. Having engine trouble, are you?"

She stopped in front of him and gave in to an impulse to touch him. She smiled seductively, aware her crew was watching her. She gently caressed his cheek, then withdrew her hand only to lash out without warning and strike him across his face as hard as she could.

"PetaQ!" she shouted as Tucker grabbed Reed to keep him from stumbling. "How dare you try such a thing! But you have given us a prize, so I suppose I should thank you."

Reed was watching her with hooded eyes, a thin trickle of blood sliding down his cheek. He shrugged Tucker off and stood upright by himself. She watched as he restrained himself, knowing he wanted to strike back at her.

She turned her back on him and strode from the bay.

Reaching the sanctuary of her cabin, she stripped off her outer armor and threw it roughly in a corner. Kleth would take care of Reed and his companion. Knowing the 'fleeter was on board was making her anxious, though, and she knew she'd give in and find a reason to see him.

That would have to wait, though. Thumbing the com panel on her desk, she ordered the helmsman to change their heading to Shidak's stronghold.

Now she just had to wait for Kleth to make his report. She sincerely hoped he kept his philosophy to himself this time.

* * *

"Never seen the inside of a Klingon warbird before," Tucker remarked after they were thrown in the brig. "Can't say I like their guest quarters." 

Reed didn't say anything. He settled for glaring at the man.

Tucker rambled on as he wandered around the brig, inspecting the closed door and the seams where the bulkheads joined. "That was Hoshi Sato? Boy, she sure is something! Such a little bitty thing, and those big Klingons hangin' on her every word."

"Tucker?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Reed sat down on the deck with his back against the bulkhead opposite the door. Well, he'd wanted to be led to the pirates' leader. He was getting his wish. Not quite the way he had hoped to do it, though.

Tilting his head back against the wall, he closed his eyes. He tried to think of ways he could extricate themselves -- and a spy ship with a classified engine -- from the spot they were in, but he could hear Tucker moving around the cell and mumbling to himself. What was the man doing?

Opening one eye a crack, he saw Tucker inspecting the frame running around the door. He didn't know what the man found so interesting. There was absolutely nothing in the dull greenish-grey cell but them, not even something in which they could relieve themselves.

Reed reached up absently and touched the cut on his cheek. Her blow had surprised him. He'd been more concerned about the Klingons in the docking bay than he had been about her doing something like that. And although he knew she was their captain, he was astounded by their deference to her. She had to be an extraordinary woman.

A clanking noise outside the door caught his attention.

Tucker retreated across the cell toward him. "I think we're about to have company," the engineer said nervously.

Reed climbed to his feet as the door opened. The big Klingon, Kleth, stepped in and glared at Reed. "Tell me about your ship," he said bluntly.

"What do you want to know?" Reed asked, earning him an astonished stare from Tucker.

"I have never seen a ship of its like before," Kleth rumbled. "It is new, yes? A...prototype?"

"Yes."

"What are its capabilities?"

"I can't tell you."

"Tell me or I will kill your friend," Kleth said with a glance at Tucker, whose face paled.

Reed smiled mirthlessly. "Please, be my guest. Maybe that way he will finally shut up."

Tucker's disbelieving shout of "Reed!" was drowned out by Kleth's burst of laughter.

"I like you, Human," Kleth said. "You remind me of the mistress. But I warn you -- tell me what I want to know, or it will go badly for both of you."

Reed measured the massive specimen of the Klingon warrior breed standing before him and knew there was no way he could win. The man was a good half meter taller than he was, and more than twice his weight. But perhaps he could get something in return.

"I will tell your mistress, not you," Reed said.

He saw a calculating gleam come into Kleth's eyes. He wasn't sure that was the reaction he was hoping for, but it certainly was unexpected. He would have taken odds that he'd have been decked for his response.

"Who is your friend, little warrior?" Kleth asked, surprising Reed. Klingons did not use the term "warrior" lightly, although the adjective "little" rankled. And the change in the direction of the conversation was confusing.

Before Reed could say anything, the engineer spoke up. "I'm Tucker," he said, and received a back-handed blow from Kleth that knocked him down.

The Klingon growled. "You will speak only when I tell you to."

Tucker lay stunned on the floor, and Reed felt a sudden rush of sympathy for the man. That had to have hurt. But maybe he'd learned a lesson and would keep that big mouth of his shut now.

Kleth returned his attention to Reed. "Your friend?"

"Not really," Reed replied, causing Kleth to chuckle. "But I have to work with him. I request that you don't damage him too much."

"That remains to be seen," Kleth said. "The captain will decide both your fates."

Reed could only watch as Kleth turned and strode out the door, slamming it shut and locking it behind him.

(Author's Note: Come on, guys. I know you're reading this. Hasn't anybody besides fififolle got any comments? I'd appreciate it.)


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

"He says he will tell you about the ship," Kleth informed Hoshi.

Kleth had come to her cabin after his brief encounter with the 'fleeters. She had hoped her first officer would be able to pry the information out of them, but that wasn't going to be the case, she saw now. She knew he could beat it out of them. For some reason, however, Kleth didn't seem willing to do that.

She suspected he had an ulterior motive. His remark a few days earlier about her being attracted to one of her own probably had something to do with it. Not only was he a philosopher, it appeared he was a matchmaker as well, in his own rough way. He had to be the least Klingon-like Klingon she had ever met.

She didn't bother to get angry with him. What was the use? It was like trying to turn back a force of nature. She thanked whatever deity there might be that, most of the time, his force was moving in the same direction as she was.

Yet she couldn't deny the thrill of excitement that coursed through her when Kleth told her Reed wanted to talk to her. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about Reed as she had waited for Kleth to bring his report. Three times she had been in Reed's presence; the last two times she had touched him. With a slight flush, she realized she wanted him to touch her as well.

Feeling like she had betrayed Matthew's memory, she uttered a curse and gave Kleth her full attention. "Have you learned anything about his ship?"

"It is a prototype, designed for covert operations with no markings. Malin says it is not the standard Starfleet warp engine. It is possibly capable of more than warp 5."

"More than warp 5?" Hoshi asked, a touch of wonder in her voice. With her background, she realized what that could mean to the shipping industry. Quicker runs meant more runs as well as a greater profit by charging higher rates for faster service.

Was it worth the risk to offer it to Shidak and let the pirates get their hands on the technology as well? A newer, faster engine would be a powerful incentive for Shidak to allow her to join him.

Kleth's voice brought her back to her current reality. "Malin doesn't know what is wrong with it."

Hoshi sighed. "I'll have to talk to Reed. Bring him to me after dinner. And wipe that smile off your face, Kleth."

Kleth walked to the door but turned to face her before leaving. The smile wasn't gone. "Don't hurt him too badly, little one."

* * *

Reed squatted down next to where Tucker was sitting on the floor of the cell. "You OK?" 

Tucker's face was scrunched up in pain as he glared at Reed. "What the hell is your problem?" he gritted out.

The normally cheerful engineer was mad. He had every right to be, Reed supposed, feeling a small pang of remorse. Tucker hadn't deserved being slapped down by the Klingon. His own caustic comments, while heartfelt, had been uncalled for as well, but had served his purpose.

"Let me look," he said, pulling Tucker's hand away from his jaw. A livid bruise was taking shape.

"Leave me alone!" Tucker said as he jerked away from Reed's touch. "I can't believe you're going to tell them about the engine."

"I'm not, but they don't know that."

"Then what the hell was all that about?"

"I'm trying to keep you alive, Mr. Tucker."

Tucker laughed bitterly. "Well, you sure picked a strange way to go about it."

Reed stood up and paced across the cell. "Hopefully, Kleth thinks I don't care if you die. He won't try to use you as a hostage to get me to cooperate."

"What if he does?" Tucker asked, eyeing Reed suspiciously.

"Then I'll just have to think of something else, won't I?"

Their argument was interrupted by the cell door opening. Two Klingons entered, one armed with a disruptor, the other holding two plates of food. "Eat!" ordered the one with the plates.

Reed carefully took the plates from him and backed away when the armed Klingon growled.

Staring at the plate Reed handed him after the Klingons left, Tucker said, "I don't think I can eat this stuff."

"From what little I know about Klingon food, just be glad it's not moving," Reed said.

* * *

Hoshi had to put in a token appearance in the crew's mess. As captain, she needed to do such things. She couldn't stay cooped up away from them all the time. Donning her armor again before leaving her cabin, she felt as if she was putting on a Klingon personna at the same time. 

The blood wine was flowing freely when she entered. The crew members who had been in the docking bay when the scout ship was brought on board were regaling their comrades with the tale of their captain's humiliation of the 'fleeter.

Cheers and mugs were raised in her honor as she sauntered over to an open barrel. Grabbing a mug from the nearby table, she dipped it in. She turned so that her crew could watch as she raised the mug to her lips and downed the entire thing in one try. When she threw the mug against the bulkhead when she finished, the crew cheered again.

None dared to approach her, however. She was too different from them. Some respected her, some feared her, some were doing what they believed was a sacred duty in honor of her dead husband. All of them, she was certain, were in awe of her first officer, who was standing at her shoulder. She shrugged mentally. Whatever worked and got her to her goal.

Putting a feral smile on her face, she took a seat at one of the long tables. Another mug of blood wine was placed in front of her by Malin, the engineer she had praised earlier. She exchanged a glance with Kleth, who had taken a seat beside her, as Malin moved away.

As the conversation in the mess hall resumed around them, Kleth leaned toward her to whisper, "You have conquered Malin, little one."

She muttered a Klingon epithet, adding, "Just what I need -- another targ pup," causing Kleth to snort into his blood wine.

"That other one you will see tonight is no pup," he said softly.

Before Hoshi could respond, some of the crew started a song, and soon she was joining in the chorus with the rest of the Klingons.

She managed to eat some coarse bread and stew that another crew member brought her after the song was finished. Halfway through the meal she realized she was enjoying herself. For the first time she had the feeling that this really was her crew. Now she understood Matthew's insistence that the Falcon had a place in H-S Shipping's fleet.

They weren't bad people, these Klingons. Kleth, she knew, would die for her under the right circumstances. Because of her husband, Kleth owed her that much.


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Reed and Tucker were asleep when Kleth walked into the cell and hauled Reed unceremoniously to his feet. "Wake up, Human," he barked.

"Where are we going?" Reed asked, throwing a glance over his shoulder at Tucker who had been roused by the commotion.

"You are going to the see the captain."

Reed could feel Tucker's eyes on him as he was pushed out of the cell. A guard shut the cell door and locked it as Reed and Kleth started down the corridor.

Kleth did not speak again until they were outside Hoshi's cabin. Reed was surprised when the Klingon didn't push the chime, but instead turned to scrutinize him appraisingly.

"I will be outside her door. Do not try to hurt her," Kleth said.

"Knowing you're out here, I'll make an effort to restrain myself," Reed said sarcastically.

"It is not her I am worried about," Kleth said, and Reed detected an undercurrent of amusement in the Klingon's voice. "Anger her, and you may need me to rescue you."

Kleth did laugh then as he punched the door chime. When the door slid open, Kleth gave him a shove that thrust him stumbling into the room. Reed regained his balance just in time to keep from falling, and he heard the door shut without Kleth following him into the cabin.

Quiet laughter brought his head up quickly. What he saw made his heart race.

She was standing behind a desk, her hair freshly brushed and shining down around her shoulders. She had removed the battle armor and wore instead a long, dark green gown with a definite Klingon flare, the low-cut bodice cinched under her bosom and the long sleeves snugged at her wrists. Draped around her hips was the gold sash from the battle armor.

Even from across the cabin, he could see the gleam of amusement in her eyes, and the small smile that graced her lips all but begged him to come closer. The battle-armored captain had intrigued him, but he found this version of the Human woman among Klingons much more appealing.

Straightening up, he returned her interested gaze.

"Kleth enjoyed playing with you, didn't he?" she asked softly, her voice like a caress.

Reed, breaking out of his reverie, managed to say, "Is that what that was?"

"Oh, yes. But he was right," she said, and her voice suddenly became icy. "Don't anger me, or it will go badly for you."

He watched, bemused, as she sat down behind the desk and looked up at him.

"Don't just stand there. Sit down," she ordered, and he moved to sit in the chair in front of the desk, keeping his eyes on her the whole time.

She stared at him for a long time, not speaking, and he wondered what she was thinking. When he refused to look away from her critical regard, she dropped her eyes to a padd on the desk.

"Your ship is very interesting, Malcolm Reed," she said, picking up the padd. "A very efficient one-man spy ship except for one thing -- its engine doesn't seem to be working very well."

She had gotten right to the point, but he was surprised by her next statement.

"No matter. It will be good enough for my purpose."

"What purpose is that?" he asked.

"I need a ship."

"You seem to have one already," he remarked succinctly.

She frowned at him, and he could see the beginnings of anger in her eyes.

"Idiot," she said. "I need another ship. It's required."

"Required for what?" he asked, wondering if he would anger her further with the question.

She leaned back in her chair and regarded him. He resisted the urge to squirm under her gaze and stared steadily back at her. She seemed to be weighing some kind of decision.

He started when she abruptly stood and began to pace. Trying not to be distracted by the swing of her hips under the gown, he focused on her words.

"You're just doing your job. You're trying to stop the pirates." She halted her pacing and looked over at him, and he could see the amusement was back in her eyes. Reaching down to the sash, she flipped the edge over and pulled the tracker loose, tossing it to him. "It happened to be my luck that you came across the Falcon."

He wondered why she hadn't destroyed the tracking device, but was distracted when she walked to the front of the desk and sat down on its edge, facing him.

"What if I told you the Falcon isn't really a pirate vessel?" she asked.

"I'd have to say you are lying," he replied.

She growled angrily, a perfect imitation of Kleth but on a softer plane, and he prepared himself for her to hit him.

"Do I have to spell it out for you?" she spat instead. In a hoarse whisper, she grumbled, "I honestly don't know why Kleth thinks so highly of you. You're just like all the other 'fleeters. Duty only, and no imagination."

Reed said the first thing that popped into his head. "It would take a lot of imagination to figure out why you would become a pirate after your husband was killed by them."

This time she did move to strike him, but he was ready and grabbed her wrist when her hand was a scant few centimeters from his face. For a long moment they stared into each other's eyes, and he could see the grief that the anger couldn't hide. When she stopped exerting force against him with her arm, he released her.

She attempted to retreat around the desk but he sprung up and grabbed her by the shoulders, spinning her around. She tried to strike him again, but he grabbed both her wrists.

"I suggest you tell me how you came to be the captain of this ship if you expect me to trust you," he said, and felt her struggles cease. He let go of her as he added, "That is what you want, isn't it? For us to work together?"

As his gaze drilled into hers, he could see something else in those luminous brown eyes, and he was startled when he saw tears begin to well up. The last thing he expected was for this strong, incredible woman to cry.

"What I want doesn't matter!" she cried, dashing her hand across her eyes, preventing the tears from spilling over. She moved away from him to sit behind the desk. "What I need is something else," she said gruffly, and he could see her tough Klingon manner assert itself.

"What exactly is it that you need?" he asked in a businesslike manner as he sat down again. If she wanted to act as if there hadn't been a sizzling current between them when he'd touched her, he'd go along for the time being.

"Your ship," she said, then gave a short laugh. "But you already know that. What you don't know is why I need it."

Reed nodded, encouraging her to continue.

"You are aware that the pirates in this quadrant are becoming more efficient, claiming more ships and more valuable prizes. That is why you're here on board the Falcon, after all," she said. "As I told you back on that miserable planet, there is another, more important pirate than me. His name is Shidak."

Reed pondered this information as she fell silent. He now had a name to work with. Her next words, however, surprised him.

"I going to use your ship as the token I need to be admitted to Shidak's inner circle."

"Why?" he asked, still unable to piece together why she wanted to move even higher in the pirates' ranks when she had denied being a pirate.

"Shidak is building a powerful organization with himself as its leader. He rarely goes on raids any more, but is content to sit in his stronghold, directing the other pirates and taking a share of their loot."

"Why would the other pirates be willing to take his orders?" Reed asked.

"Because he supplies them with information. Good information. Where valuable cargo will be shipped, and when. The patrol locations of various Starfleet vessels which could interfere. Even names of colony officials who are willing to look the other way for a bribe. He has contacts deep inside many agencies, including Starfleet. And he's begun forcing some of the shipping companies to pay a 'fee' to keep their shipping safe."

Hoshi paused to take a breath, and Reed spoke up. "I need to know, before I can trust you," he said, "why are you doing this?"

She looked away, opening a drawer on the desk and pulling out a framed photograph. He saw a small smile curve the corners of her lips as she looked with melancholy sadness at the picture.

"This is why," she said, handing it to him.

It was a photo of Matthew Hayes, Reed saw. He was standing in front of the entrance to H-S Shipping, a smile on his handsome face, his eyes crinkled against the bright sunlight.

"That's my husband. Shidak is responsible for his death," Hoshi said softly but with conviction. "I'm going to kill him."


	11. Chapter 11

Welcome, Coconut Girl! And thanks for hanging in there with this, fififolle!

CHAPTER 11

Hoshi had sent Reed away after telling him she would kill Shidak. Let him think about that for a while, she thought. No matter what he could have said, she knew he wouldn't have been able to sway her resolution in that regard. She would make sure Shidak would pay for what he had done. There was no need to argue with Reed about the method that payment would take.

Besides, if he had stayed in her cabin much longer, she may have done something she would have regretted later.

After Kleth escorted Reed away, she leaned her head against the back of the chair as she sat at her desk, replaying their meeting in her mind. It had been very hard to maintain her Klingon facade around him. Kleth had been right -- she was attracted to him.

His accent had charmed her, not that he had talked much. She had heard the steel of conviction in it when he had spoken, and knew he was as set on his course as she was on hers.

She smiled as she recalled his stunned look when he had first seen her standing behind the desk. Her smile faded, however, as she probed her motivation for wearing the outfit. She had used her appearance to throw him off-guard, but she knew that wasn't the only reason. She had wanted to be attractive for him, to see if she could arouse another response.

Damn him! He was making her forget about Matthew. Sweet, funny, strong Matthew. Now she had to stand on her own without him, and she was falling for the first Human male they'd run across. How could she possibly be any more shameful?

Reed had wound up interrogating her, not the other way around. She had let herself be distracted by him. The fact that he was Human had something to do with it. She had always enjoyed being around other people, and this self-imposed exile among Klingons was difficult for her. She couldn't be herself with them. She always had to maintain the rough, strong exterior.

She'd let Reed wonder for a while. They had four days before they'd reach Shidak's stronghold. There was plenty of time to bring Reed around to her way of thinking.

* * *

Tucker was sitting on the floor, leaning against a wall, when Reed was brought back to their cell.

"Well, ya weren't gone very long," Tucker said.

"Long enough," Reed replied, sinking down against the wall a few feet away.

"Did ya learn anything?" Tucker said, then added sarcastically, "or should I ask, did she learn anything?"

"Still don't trust me?" Reed asked with a small grin.

"'Bout as far as I can throw ya."

Reed laughed quietly at that. "I didn't tell her any secrets, if that's what you're worried about. I can tell you this -- before too long, we're going to be working with her."

"What?"

"You heard me. We have the same goal, but we've been going about it in different ways."

"She's a pirate," Tucker said in disbelief, "with a shipload of Klingons at her beck and call. And you say she's got the same goal as us?"

"Um-hum." Reed closed his eyes and sighed, trying to block out Tucker's questions. He'd much rather think about the woman he'd just left, and how he could persuade her to go along with the plan he was formulating.

The rest of that night and the next day passed slowly. The Klingon equivalent of breakfast was brought to the cell, and Reed passed the time watching Tucker trying to force himself to eat some of it.

A couple of times, they were allowed to relieve themselves in facility at the end of the corridor, but they were never alone outside the cell. One of the guards even went into the bathroom with them.

There was no lunch, and as the hours dragged along, even the gregarious Tucker was running out of things to talk about. Reed was beginning to wonder how long she'd leave him locked up before she wanted to see him again. She was an intelligent woman. She had to be -- there was no way she could lead a bunch of Klingons if she wasn't. Surely she had to see the sense in working with him. Or, had he been wrong about her?

His musings were interrupted by the opening of the cell door. Kleth stood there. "She has summoned you, little warrior," he said.

He should have guessed what was going on when Kleth came to get him at the same time as a guard arrived carrying only one plate and a mug, which he put on the floor near Tucker. Still, Reed was surprised when Kleth took him to the captain's quarters to find Hoshi, dressed in the same flowing gown as the evening before, seated at the table set for three.

He looked at Kleth, who had followed him into the cabin.

"You have been invited to dine at the captain's table, little warrior," Kleth said. "Don't look so scared."

"I'm not scared," Reed retorted. "I'm just surprised that you're joining us."

The Klingon narrowed his eyes. "The captain and I have a special bond."

Hoshi was watching their byplay with interest, and Reed turned to her. "Good evening, Hoshi," he said, using her name for the first time.

A rumbling from Kleth was all the warning he got before the blow knocked him across the cabin.

"Do not address her so intimately!" the Klingon said. "To you, she is 'Captain' or 'Mistress.'"

Reed picked himself off the floor, rubbing his arm where Kleth had struck him, and nodded in acknowledgement. It was going to be an interesting meal.

Giving Kleth a wide berth, he sat down at the table across from Hoshi. He glanced up and found her eyes on him, but she hastily looked away, reaching for her mug.

He watched in amazement as she took a long swallow without gagging. That was Klingon blood wine, one of the more noxious beverages in the universe.

He was distracted from that sight by the enticing smell of the food on his plate. Looking down, he saw a cut of some sort of meat. It resembled steak, well-done, and there was a mound of something that looked like mashed potatoes next to it. He raised his gaze from the plate to look quizzically at Hoshi.

"It's targ steak," she said. "And sackil root, mashed and seasoned."

Sneaking a glance at Kleth's plate, he saw the warrior also had targ steak, accompanied by a writhing mass of those worm-like things. He decided not to look at Kleth's plate again until he'd finished his own meal. He was too hungry to let Kleth's choice of food slow him down.

He waited for Hoshi to cut her steak and take a bite before he applied himself to his meal. It was good, the meat tender and juicy, and the mashed root spicy enough to be interesting. A pitcher of water was near his glass, and he was grateful she had thought of that small gesture. He didn't want to start in on the blood wine, which could dull his ability to think clearly.

Kleth applied himself industriously to his food and was finished before Reed was a third through his. Hoshi, he noticed, had taken only a few bites, then put down her fork as if she wasn't hungry.

Feeling the weight of their combined stares, he stopped and put down his utensils. "That was very good," he said to Hoshi.

"You ought to appreciate it," Kleth interjected. "She fixed it herself for you."

"Kleth!" Hoshi said as Reed glanced at her in surprise.

"It is true," Kleth said.

"I don't want him to die from that slop you call food before we accomplish our goal," Hoshi stated testily. "I have plans for him."

Her last remark caused the Klingon to laugh.

"Oh, get out," she said irritably to Kleth. "I'll never be able to do anything with you around."

Kleth laughed even louder as he rose. Reed could swear he was looking at Hoshi affectionately, and once again wondered about their relationship. As Kleth passed him on the way to the door, however, he gave Reed a stern glare.

"He's the only Klingon I've met who understands innuendo," Hoshi said as the door closed after Kleth departed.

"He's certainly...unusual," Reed agreed.

They lapsed into silence, Hoshi taking a small sip from her mug. Reed filled in the time, taking a few more bites of meat, as he waited for her to speak. It gradually dawned on him that she was waiting for him to finish eating before talking to him. He took his time, savoring the flavors.

Once his plate was empty, he reached for the flagon of blood wine and poured some into his mug. Taking a sip and trying not to make a face at the taste, he regarded her over the rim of the mug.

"Thank you for the meal," he said to break awkward silence.

"You're welcome," she replied, then fell silent again.

Trying to keep her talking, he said, "You're quite a cook."

"It's just one of my many talents," she said with a self-deprecating smile. He saw her face harden with resolve. "But I didn't have you come here to talk about my talents. There are other things we need to discuss."

She shoved her barely touched plate away and leaned back in her chair. "You're stuck, Malcolm Reed. You've been captured by what you believe are pirates. Your prototype ship has been captured as well. I don't see how you are going to get out of this, unless you cooperate with me."

Reed looked at her speculatively. "What kind of cooperation do you want?"

"I need the engine on your ship fixed, for one thing. My engineering crew doesn't know what's wrong with it."

"I suppose a new engine that actually works would be much more tempting to someone like Shidak than the way it is now," he said.

"There is that," she admitted, leaning toward him across the table. "But there is another reason to have it fixed."

He watched as she stood and paced over to the tiny viewport in the bulkhead. Looking out the window, she said, "I don't intend to die. I may need a way to escape after I kill Shidak. The fastest ship in the quadrant would allow me to do that."

"You'd sacrifice your crew?" he asked, not believing she could be that callous.

"No. They would be on their own, free to do as they please," she said evenly. "I have promised Kleth that much. He deserves it. They were renegade Klingons before, they can be renegade Klingons again, if they wish."

"I take it Kleth knows this?"

"Yes."

"But not the rest of the crew?"

She turned to face him, her back to the viewport. "No. I'm not that stupid. There's no need to give any of them an incentive to 'relieve' me of command. If they knew I was using them, even for an honorable reason, only to discard them when I'm finished..."

"They'd kill you," he finished for her when her voice trailed off. "Why hasn't Kleth...ah, disposed of you?"

"It's the Klingon way. According to the code of honor they live by, Kleth is obligated to me," she said.

Coming to sit down at the table, she fiddled with the knife on her plate. "A couple of years ago, Matthew, my husband, was traveling with one of our freighters. They came across the Falcon, disabled, fires burning in its engineering core, most of the engineers dead or injured."

She took a deep breath. "Any other freighter would have passed by, leaving the Klingons to their fate. Dealing with Klingons is usually not worth the trouble." In a shaky voice, she said, "Matthew ordered his freighter to dock with the Falcon, despite the danger that it would be destroyed if the Falcon's warp core blew."

Reed could hear the pride in her voice as she continued. "Matthew, through his own force of will, made Kleth let him board. I don't know exactly what he said to Kleth, but it worked, and the engineering crew from our freighter was able to contain the breach. As a result, Kleth, for whatever reason, swore allegiance to my husband. Something to do about being spared an inglorious death with no honor, I think was how Matthew said Kleth put it.

"So your husband took Kleth into the business?" he asked.

"Yes, and it worked very well. It opened up a whole new area for shipping, trading with some of the outer Klingon worlds."

This time when she fell silent and looked away, Reed left her alone with her thoughts. Watching her profile, he could see a series of emotions cross her face. When she began to speak again, her voice was so soft that he had to strain to listen.

"Then the pirate attacks started. Matthew was incensed. He wanted to find out exactly why it was happening, and what he could do to protect our ships. Kleth left the Falcon and came to help him. They were together on the freighter when the pirates attacked and Matthew was..."

"I think I can figure out what happened," Reed said as she became more agitated. "You don't have to--"

"You need to know," she said forcefully. "You'll have to work with Kleth, and you should understand him as well as you can. I really don't want him to kill you," she added with a rueful smile.

He gave her a lopsided smile in return and heard her sigh. She stood up again and began to pace.

Resuming her narrative as she paced, she said, "The pirates had knocked out the engine, and the freighter was dead in the water. Matthew and Kleth were both on the bridge when the pirates boarded. Matthew should have surrendered, but he had too much stubborn pride. There was a fight. Kleth was shot with a disruptor, his arm badly burned, and could only use one hand. He was grappling with one of the pirates when Matthew went to help him."

She stopped pacing and stared at him, the horror of what it must have been like on the freighter's bridge clearly written on her face. "Matthew stepped right into the line of fire of another disruptor blast that was meant for Kleth. Except that this disruptor was set on the highest setting. It struck him in the back."

Tears beginning to stream down her face, she finished wretchedly, "There wasn't even a body to bring back home for burial."

"Hoshi, I am so sorry," he said, knowing it sounded lame even to his own ears.

"Don't feel sorry for me!" she yelled through her tears, shaking with a rage rooted in overwhelming grief. "Help me kill that bastard instead."

Standing and moving to her side, he took her unprotesting form into his arms. "Let me do more," he whispered.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

Hoshi cried softly into Reed's shoulder. She'd never really broken down after receiving the news that Matthew was dead, but now she had. All it had taken was one sympathetic ear and she'd gone to pieces. How could she possibly be more pitiful?

Through her grief, she gradually became aware of Reed's warm presence. His strong arms were wrapped around her, and one of his hands was rubbing small circles on her back.

As her crying subsided, she heard him whisper, "Ssssh," and her sniffles changed to a tiny giggle. A Starfleet commander was comforting a pretend pirate, and she was getting his sleeve all wet. There had to be stranger things in the universe, but right now she couldn't think of what they were.

She slowly pulled away but he didn't loosen his hold. She gazed into his eyes, which had taken on a deeper hue. She could see his concern, but also his desire

"I shouldn't--"

His lips cut off her protest. They were gentle and caressing, not probing or forceful. Without thinking, she began to respond. Then, as she began to compare his kiss to Matthew's, she stiffened and broke away.

She backed away from him until her legs came up against the bed. She stood still, one hand to her mouth, not knowing what to do. She didn't trust herself to speak.

"Hoshi, I..." Reed started to say but stopped. He moved quickly to her, taking her in his arms once more. "Stop, Hoshi," he said as she began to struggle against him. "All I want to do is hold you."

When he didn't do anything but hold her securely, she relaxed. It had been so long since she been able to take refuge in strong arms protecting her from everything else. Her heart began to slow its rapid pace, and she luxuriated in the unaccustomed feeling of safety.

They stood like that for a long time, neither one speaking, and eventually her eyelids began to droop.

"Lie down," he told her, gently maneuvering her onto the bed. "You're exhausted."

"You can't--"

"I'll just stay here and watch you sleep."

She looked up at him. Something made her want to trust him, even with this.

And she was tired. Everything had finally caught up with her -- Matthew's death, the decision to seek revenge, the time aboard the Falcon. She'd been so strong and sure the entire time. She needed this brief respite, knowing someone was watching over her.

She closed her eyes.

* * *

Reed sat on the edge of the bed until he was sure she was asleep. Even after he was certain, he continued to sit there, watching. 

He couldn't take advantage of her. No matter how much he wanted to, it wouldn't be right. But, he could be her guardian and ensure that she got a night of restful sleep. After what she had been through, she was entitled to it, and it was the least he could do for her.

He wondered how she had managed all this. Her husband's death alone was a devastating experience. For her to wind up captaining a band of renegade Klingons in an insane quest for vengeance was almost beyond his comprehension.

And then he'd come along and complicated things even further.

He couldn't deny she radiated an inner strength. He'd seen it the very first time they'd met, staring at each other across the freighter's bridge. He had been obsessed with her ever since. Each facet of her personality which was revealed -- her sense of humor during their confrontation in the restaurant, her dignity which commanded the respect of Klingons, her cleverness in concocting this wild scheme to avenge her dead husband -- only impressed him more.

A crick in his neck reminded him of how tired he was himself. He carefully eased off his boots and slid down on his back beside her where she lay curled on her side, her back to him. He'd rest for a few minutes, he decided, then resume his vigil.

* * *

Hoshi woke slowly. She was disoriented for a moment, not used to being so close to the wall behind her bunk when she woke. Her eyes flew all the way open when she realized the reason for her position. 

Looking down, she saw the feeling of weight on her waist wasn't her imagination. As her mind screamed for her to get up, her body had other ideas. Heat began to pool in her loins, and she stifled an involuntary moan.

She turned under his arm, careful not to jostle him, until she was on her side facing him. Some time while she had been asleep, he had laid down beside her. He was on his side, his arm thrown protectively over her.

She was mesmerized by his features, softened in sleep.

His dark eyebrows and thick eyelashes caught her attention first. Women would kill to have lashes like that, she thought with a sly inner grin.

With her eyes, she traced the slope of his nose down to his lips, which were slightly parted. She could remember the feel of them from a few hours before, and she licked her own lips at the memory.

She had gotten to his chin when he shifted in his sleep and his leg thrust against hers, startling her into a muffled exclamation. She remained still, holding her breath, not wanting to wake him.

The specter of Matthew suddenly loomed in her mind. A tear slid from her eye as she wrestled with her conscience, still loving Matthew and missing him, but lying in bed with another man whom she desired.

Matthew was gone. She never again would hear him laugh in delight when she'd said something to amuse him, or catch him smiling at her when he thought she wasn't looking. She'd never again have the satisfaction of working side by side with him, seeing their company thrive, or look up to see that he had thoughtfully placed a cup of coffee on her desk as she worked on the company books.

Much as she had loved Matthew, she didn't want to share her bed with a ghost.

With a silent apology to her dead husband, she lifted her hand to Reed's face and caressed his cheek with her fingertips.

* * *

He had every intention of remaining awake when he reclined carefully next to her. He felt a surge of protectiveness toward this woman whom he barely knew but who had bared her soul to him. 

Wrapped up in thoughts about her past, he drifted off to sleep without knowing it, dreaming he was commanding a British warship in the Caribbean. They came alongside a buccaneer ship they had been fighting, the smoke from cannonshot fouling the air. He and his men were preparing to board as the grappling lines were thrown when his attention was caught by a small figure on the pirate ship. He -- no, she! -- grabbed the hook at the end of one of the grappling lines, pulling it free from the pirate ship's railing. As she turned to throw the hook overboard, their eyes caught.

He watched as she raised a flintlock pistol and aimed at him. As happens sometimes in dreams, he couldn't move. He watched helplessly as she pulled the trigger. He felt the ball sear across his cheek--

His eyes snapped open to stare into the same eyes from his dream, and the hand which had held the gun in the dream was stroking his cheek gently.

He could see the hunger in her eyes, and felt a corresponding desire spark within himself. He reached up slowly to grasp the hand on his face, and moved it to his mouth where he gently kissed its palm.

He watched as her eyes closed and heard her slight intake of air. Moving her hand away, he leaned toward her and put his lips over hers, tasting her, and felt her hand go behind his head, encouraging him to continue.

Ever so slowly, he increased the pressure, pushing her onto her back, and was gratified when she yielded. Drawing back from her a fraction, he looked into her eyes, which had opened at his hesitation.

"Hoshi, are you sure you want this?" he asked, desire making his voice husky.

At her nod, he began to plunder her mouth with his.


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

They had slept afterward, only to awaken and make love again, more fiercely than his desperately gentle taking of her the first time. As they sprawled on the bed, spent, she idly traced her fingers along his chest.

Words she had spoken to him came back to her. She had told him during their first meeting in her cabin that what she wanted didn't matter. She had been wrong.

Unbidden comparisons to Matthew's love-making suddenly popped into her head, and she grimaced.

Noticing her expression, Reed asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she replied evasively, shifting to lie on her back and gaze up at the ceiling, realizing she now had guilt to add to her current emotional state.

She wasn't sorry. If anything, she wanted more. But what would happen when they reached Shidak's stronghold? Would Reed back her, or would he use her just as she was determined to use him if he didn't cooperate? And now there was not only guilt about what she had done to the memory of her husband, but about what she might do to this new lover.

Loud banging on the cabin door distracted her from her depressing thoughts.

Drawing the sheet up over them, Reed asked, "That's Kleth, isn't it?"

"No one else on board would have the audacity to do that," she replied.

She tried to pull the sheet back down so that she could get out of bed and grab some clothing, but Reed wouldn't let her.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked haughtily as she tugged at the sheet.

"Just going to let Kleth know things have changed around here," he told her, then called out loudly, "Enter!"

The door slid open, and Hoshi yelped and gave up struggling, pulling the sheet up to her chin instead. Kleth strode into the cabin, his eyes immediately coming to rest on her and Reed in bed.

Hoshi could feel Reed tense beside her. She was sandwiched between him and the bulkhead, and it would be no big effort for Kleth to tear him from her side and break him in two. She held her breath as she waited to see her first officer's reaction.

Kleth's initial expression of fury quickly dissipated, replaced by a wide smile. Pulling out a chair from the table, he sat down and continued to smile at them. Hoshi could feel her cheeks burn with embarrassment.

Beside her, Reed was still tense, but he inched up into a sitting position, so she did the same, pulling the sheet along with her.

"You have mated?" Kleth asked curiously in his soft bass rumble.

"Yes, we have mated," Reed replied, and Hoshi didn't hear a trace of shame in his voice.

She tried to assert her authority before Kleth wanted to know details. "This is none of your business," she began.

"But it is, little one," Kleth assured her. "He can no longer stay in the brig. He must stay here with you. You have chosen him."

Hoshi stared open-mouthed at him, not believing what she was hearing. A movement from Reed caught her eye, and she glanced at him to see he was biting his lip in an effort not to laugh.

"I wondered how long it would take," Kleth continued. "Garef thought perhaps the first time you called him to your cabin, but I said no, you have more restraint."

Drawing the sheet from Reed's now unprotesting hands and standing up, she wrapped the sheet around her. Reed, damn him, didn't look the least embarrassed at being naked and got up as well, picking up his discarded skivvies and putting them on.

"Does the whole crew know about this?" she asked acerbically.

"No," Kleth said, but as Hoshi let out a relieved sigh he added, "but the replacements coming on duty will be informed."

"I can't believe this," Hoshi mumbled, running a hand through her disheveled hair.

"You are angry?" Kleth asked in confusion.

"You're damn right I'm angry!" she yelled. "I don't know about Klingons, but Humans like a little privacy in their...private dealings."

"Ah, it is so easy to forget you are not Klingon. You have the heart of a Klingon, as does the little warrior, I suspect," Kleth said, glancing over at Reed.

"Kleth," Reed said, intervening before Hoshi could say anything. "From one warrior to another, I ask you -- please stop calling me that."

The Klingon's brow knitted. "Why? It is a fitting description of you."

"Compared to you, I am little. But it has certain...derogatory connotations among Humans. Besides, it pisses me off."

"Very well. I will call you by your name... What is your name?"

"Malcolm," Reed said, pronouncing the syllables distinctly.

"Ma'Com," Kleth repeated thoughtfully. "It almost sounds Klingon. Just like--"

"Kleth!" Hoshi cut him off. She didn't need him comparing Reed's first name to Matthew's, or Ma'Hew as Kleth had called him. She had made enough comparisons of the two on her own in the last twenty-four hours. The last thing she needed was her crew to start doing it.

She was about to ask her first officer for a status report when she saw him bend to pick up Reed's shirt from where it had fallen on the floor last night. Holding it up as if to measure it, Kleth muttered under his breath.

"You need appropriate attire, little-- Ma'Com," he said, and continued to mutter. "Malin is not much bigger than you. I will see if he has any to spare."

"There's nothing wrong with my clothing," Reed said.

"You do not understand Klingons very well, I think," Kleth said. "The crew has accepted that the captain has taken you as hers."

Hoshi tried hard not to laugh at the outraged expression on Reed's face at Kleth's turn of phrase, but a snort managed to get past her lips as Kleth gathered up his clothing, and Reed shot her a dirty look.

"You will wear Klingon clothing," Kleth explained as he headed for the door. "It will be easier for them to accept you as a warrior that way, not just the captain's chosen one."

* * *

Reed tugged at the Klingon battle armor, trying to get the breastplate to fit comfortably, as the guards opened the cell door. The outfit, devoid of rank insignia, was heavy and itchy. No wonder Klingons were so irritable all the time, he thought. Between the clothing they wore and the food they ate, well, it was enough to drive a man to do terrible things. 

Tucker's eyes bulged when he took in Reed's appearance, looking him up and down when he entered the cell. Reed had to give him credit -- it didn't take long for the engineer to say something.

"Gone over to the enemy?" Tucker asked sarcastically.

"No. Just winning them over to our side."

"'Our' side? Thought ya left that behind when you told 'em you were going to tell them about 'our' ship."

"Tucker, the least you could do is be grateful. I'm getting you out of this depressing cell."

The engineer's eyes narrowed. "Why? As far as I know, I'm still a prisoner, no matter what you've done to change your status."

"How would you like some real food?"

He tried to put all his conviction in his expression as Tucker pondered his sudden change in topic. Reed flicked his eyes at Kleth and the guard who had accompanied him, then back to Tucker, trying to silently tell the man that he couldn't talk openly in the Klingons' presence.

"Sure, OK," Tucker agreed finally. "Let's go."


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

Hoshi was waiting for them in the docking bay. With several of her crew scattered around performing various tasks, she played the part of the impatient captain, pacing and muttering curses.

When the doors slid open and Reed, Tucker, and Kleth walked in, she shouted, "Where have you been? There is work to be done!"

The other Klingons were watching interestedly, waiting for what would happen. Kleth sidled over to Reed and whispered something to him. Reed shot Kleth a questioning glance and Kleth nodded vigorously.

Taking a deep breath, Reed took his time approaching Hoshi, stopping just far enough away to be out of range if she decided to take a swing at him. "We were busy," he said loudly with a sneer.

Hoshi's lips twitched as she realized Kleth had been coaching him. Reed's impression of a Klingon would have been perfect except for the British accent, and the fact that he was keeping his distance tickled her.

Taking a step toward him, she punched him hard in the arm and laughed. "I like you. You have spirit," she said, adding softly as he frowned, "Act like you mean what you're saying."

Drawing himself up to attention, he asked loudly enough for the nearest Klingons to hear him, "What are your orders?"

"Fix this miserable excuse of a ship. It must be able to fly by the time we reach Shidak."

She turned and climbed into the scout ship. Tucker had been watching the exchange warily, and Reed grabbed him by the arm to pull him into the ship. When all three were inside, Reed shut the hatch.

"We should be able to talk now," Hoshi said calmly in a normal Human tone of voice.

Tucker was eyeing her uncertainly where she was seated at the console, having spun the pilot's chair around to face in toward the rest of the ship's cabin.

"Go ahead and get something to eat," she told him. "From personal experience, I know you've got to be hungry."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, keeping his eye on her as he backed toward the food storage bin.

Hoshi looked at Reed with a frown furrowing her brow.

"He doesn't trust either of us," Reed said, and Hoshi raised her eyebrows in understanding.

"Well, would you in my position?" Tucker spoke up. "I've been cooped up for two days in that box they call a brig -- no bed, no chair, no toilet. Reed gets pulled out a couple of times to be wined and dined and..." His voice faltered, but he didn't stop. "Well, I know what you two have been up to."

"You do?" Hoshi asked, curious as to how he had found out.

Tucker looked away, a slight blush staining his face. "These Klingons kinda like to gossip, even with a prisoner. They were takin' bets about how long it would be before..."

When his voice trailed off, she asked coolly, "Before what, Mr. Tucker?"

"Well, they wanted my advice on how long it would be before...you know...before you two...got together. Since it was Humans involved and all."

Tucker refused to look her in the eye, and he busied himself rummaging through the storage bins. Finding a packaged meal to his liking, he took it out and ripped the end tab off. He stepped over to the bunk, sat down and began to eat.

Hoshi took a moment to look around the interior of the vessel. She'd never been aboard anything so small that was spaceworthy. Even from where she was sitting, the amount of equipment she could see amazed her.

Reed, leaning against the closed door to what she assumed was the bathroom, had his hand over his mouth and his eyes squeezed shut. When he opened one eye a crack and peeked at her, she realized he was trying not to laugh.

"Stop it," she told him.

"I can't help it," Reed replied. "I think he's more afraid of you than he is of me."

"Hey," Tucker said around a mouthful of food. "I'm not afraid of either of you. It's just that my momma didn't raise me to gossip about other people's...ya know..."

Hoshi shook her head. They were going to have to get the engineer to cooperate. She been counting on him deferring to Reed, but she wasn't so sure now. They were both Starfleet officers, and she'd assumed he was under Reed's command. He'd have to follow any orders Reed gave, but if he thought Reed was aiding the enemy, it would be his duty to refuse.

Tucker was looking back and forth between the two of them as he ate. It didn't help that Reed had that sardonic, superior look on his face. She was going to have to put a stop to this.

"Mr. Tucker," she began. "We're aboard a Klingon ship, but we're Human. We should try to work with each other."

Tucker swallowed a bite of food before answering. "You may look Human, but from what I've seen, you're Klingon inside."

She was so used to allowing her temper free rein to act the part of a Klingon captain that she felt it flare up at his words, and she made an effort to control it. A show of anger wouldn't work on this man.

"I'm not going to explain to you why I behave like I do. That really is none of your business," she said levelly with just enough venom to let him know that he'd ticked her off. "But all of us -- you, me, Reed -- want the same thing. So do these Klingons. We want to bring down the leader of the pirates' organization. We may have different reasons, but in the end, we all want the same thing."

"Huh," Tucker mumbled. "But for some reason, you want this ship to fly again. You need my help to do that."

"That's right," Hoshi conceded.

"Well, it's Starfleet property. I can't allow that information to be passed on to the Klingons. They aren't exactly our sworn enemies, but they sure as hell aren't our friends."

"This crew is as close to friends as you'll ever find among Klingons, Mr. Tucker," she said harshly.

"Why do you need this ship in the first place?" he asked in genuine puzzlement. "You've already got a warbird. This is just a little one-man scout ship."

"Let's quit beating around the bush, Mr. Tucker," she said. "I know about the engine."

"You told her!" Tucker sprang off the bunk, tossing down the meal packet, to face Reed in indignation.

"I didn't tell her anything," Reed said calmly. "Her crew figured it out on their own."

"Damn it! If this engine falls into the wrong hands--"

"It won't," Hoshi said. "We'll use it as a lure, nothing more. I have no intention of letting someone else get their hands on this ship."

* * *

Hoshi left, saying she had to attend to other matters, but Reed thought perhaps she didn't want to be seen spending too much time alone with the only other Humans on board. No need to let the others, especially Kleth, know that they had come to an uneasy alliance amongst themselves. 

He reclined on the bunk in the scout ship, watching Tucker work. There wasn't enough room for both him and Tucker to be digging around in the engine relays, trying to get at the injector. Tucker was the one with all the knowledge in that area, in any case.

"She really thinks she's gonna get away with this, doesn't she?" Tucker said from where he was working under the engine panel.

"Yes, she does," Reed replied.

"Is she?" Tucker asked. "Gonna get away with it, I mean."

Reed didn't answer. He'd been wondering the same thing. It was pure happenstance that the pirate ship he managed to infiltrate was Hoshi's, and that he and Hoshi both wanted to bring down the pirate leader. Being treated as an ally instead of a prisoner would make his job much easier, that was for sure.

Hoshi's ultimate goal, however, was to kill Shidak. Reed, as a Starfleet officer, was supposed to apprehend him, but there was always the possibility that Shidak could be killed in the process. Not that he wouldn't try to prevent Hoshi from carrying out that part of her plan. She was already in enough trouble without adding murder to the charges against her, even if it was some low-life pirate scum who happened to be an organizational genius.

Once all this was over, what did she have to look forward to? She'd told him she would leave the Falcon, but where could she go? Those convicted on piracy charges were harshly punished, so she couldn't go back to Earth. He couldn't picture her living on some backward, out-of-the-way planet for the rest of her life, either.

"She must have really loved her husband a lot."

Tucker's statement broke him out of his contemplation. "How did you know about that?" Reed asked.

"I told you these Klingons like to gossip." Tucker grinned as he pulled his head out from under the panel. As he looked around for another tool, he added, "He must have been some man to inspire her to do this."

"You're probably right," Reed said, his thoughts taking a new direction now that Tucker had brought up Matthew Hayes.

After last night, Reed knew without a doubt that Hoshi wanted him. But, wanting and loving were two entirely different things.

He could be callous enough to keep taking what Hoshi was offering, knowing there was no love on her part. Hoshi had made it quite clear how much she had loved Hayes. But Reed was selfish enough to want more. He wanted to see love shining in her eyes for him, just as it had when she had talked about her husband.

How had he come to be jealous of a dead man, Reed wondered.

Seeing Reed's closed expression, Tucker grabbed the tool he needed and scooted back under the panel.

* * *

Archer sat in his chair on the bridge. The quiet hum of the ship surrounded him, and the bridge crew went about their tasks efficiently and calmly. 

He hated waiting, but there wasn't anything else for him to do.

They hadn't heard from Reed since a brief compressed communications burst before he and Tucker began trailing the Klingon pirate ship a few days ago.

They could still be following the pirates, or they could have gotten into trouble. For all he knew, both Reed and Tucker could be dead by now. But he'd given his word not to interfere until Reed called for Enterprise as backup or until a week had passed. Neither of those two conditions had come to pass yet.

Sighing, he got up and went to his ready room. At least his pacing in there wouldn't disturb the bridge crew.


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

Two days from Shidak's stronghold, Hoshi roamed the ship, making sure all systems were operating at peak efficiency. They would need to be in top condition if things got rough. Although she ultimately planned to leave her crew on their own, she realized she did care about them. She wanted them to have the best chance to survive any hostilities they might encounter.

She was very aware of Kleth following her around, watching her fussing over the ship. Her patience began to grow thin the third time she turned around and ran smack into his massive chest.

"You change directions too quickly," he said, grabbing her by the shoulders and setting her back on her feet after she stumbled from the force of her impact on his breastplate.

"Get out of my way, Kleth! I don't need you following me around like a mother targ," she said.

"What do you suggest I do?"

Hands on her hips, Hoshi considered. There were any number of things Kleth could be doing besides following her around, but one idea stood out. With a wicked smile, she ordered, "Go see what Reed and Tucker are up to. Make sure they fix the engine."

A beatific smile -- for a Klingon -- spread across Kleth's face at her words, and she knew he would enjoy himself.

* * *

"What progress have you made?" Kleth asked, his voice a low rumble as he entered the scout ship. There wasn't much room to move around, what with the two Humans and now the massive Klingon occupying the small interior. 

Tucker hastily pulled his legs up under himself and stood up, leaning away from Kleth. Reed sat on the bunk, chewing on a piece of beef from one of the meal packets as he watched. He wouldn't be surprised if Kleth was going to have a little fun at Tucker's expense.

"Well?" Kleth demanded, looking down his nose at Tucker

"Ah," Tucker said nervously. "The last time I talked, you smacked me down."

Kleth laughed and slapped Tucker on the shoulder, causing the engineer to stagger.

"You may talk now. You have earned the trust of the captain." Pausing, he added, "But I will be watching you. ... So, what progress have you made?"

Tucker swallowed and inched a little farther away. He shot an inquiring glance at Reed, who shrugged.

"I got the injector aligned," Tucker began, "but I need to make another part that was too badly damaged to fix. Otherwise, next time a change in speed is made at high warp, it'll blow again. Problem is, I don't have the materials to make the part."

Kleth considered his words, then yelled out the open hatch. "K'rit! Take this Human to engineering. See if he can find what he needs there."

Tucker, a look of pleased surprise on his face, hustled out the hatch without a word. Curiosity about the Klingons' engineering section was overriding his nervousness, Reed surmised.

Kleth sat down in the pilot's chair after Tucker left. Looking around the interior, he said, "He will fix the engine."

It was a statement, not a question, and Reed heard the underlying threat. Wadding up the empty food packet, he tossed it in the recycle bin. "He'll fix it."

The two men assessed each other for a few moments before Reed spoke again.

"Shouldn't you be watching the captain's back?" he asked. When Kleth continued to stare at him, his expression unreadable, Reed probed farther. "After all, it's not me you've been protecting her from. If anything, you've thrown us together."

A sudden grating noise from Kleth puzzled him until he realized the Klingon was laughing quietly.

"You are right, Ma'Com," Kleth said. "I have thrown you together, but it did not take much effort on my part. You did not resist my captain."

Reed frowned as his reservations about his relationship with Hoshi came back to him. No, he certainly hadn't resisted her. "Whether or not I resisted is not up for discussion," he said.

Kleth laughed out loud at that. "You sound just like her. You Humans, are you all like this?"

Reed snorted and got up to get a glass of water from the dispenser. Taking a swallow, he eyed Kleth before broaching a subject that he had been curious about ever since he'd seen the Klingon with Hoshi at the restaurant.

"Why are you so loyal to her?" he asked, watching for Kleth's reaction.

"She hasn't told you?"

"She told me that Matthew Hayes saved your life twice, even if he didn't know he was doing it the second time. He inadvertently stepped into the line of fire meant for you, and died as a result."

"That is true," Kleth said. "You do not know much about Klingons, do you?"

"What all Starfleet officers know, I suppose," Reed answered, moving to sit back down on the bunk. He had the feeling this was going to be a long conversation. Kleth had settled back in the pilot's chair as if he intended to be there a while.

"What Starfleet officers know has more to do with tactics and battle history than our way of life," Kleth said, nodding his head as if confirming something. "You see us as blood-thirsty barbarians who fight all the time."

Reed remained quiet, sipping the water, waiting to see if Kleth would divulge more information without encouragement.

"Ma'Hew Hayes could have been a Klingon," Kleth said without preamble. "He understood our ways, he even risked his own ship and the lives of his crew to save the Falcon."

Kleth paused to look over his shoulder out the viewport where two Klingons could be seen working at an open access panel in the docking bay. "The crew and I, we are renegades from our own people. I had a disagreement with the Klingon military command." Turning back to give Reed a hard smile, he said, "What the disagreement was is none of your business."

"So, you and your crew became pirates?" Reed asked.

"No. We ran a trade route between two of our outer worlds," Kleth said, adding with distaste, "It was business."

"And that's when Hayes found you?"

"Yes. An accident in engineering had disabled us, and we only had a short time before the warp core would breach. Ma'Hew knew that is not how Klingons want to die. He persuaded me by saying that if the Falcon could be repaired in time and we lived, we would have another chance for an honorable death and the journey to Sto-Vo-Kor. But he was also a shrewd businessman -- after he made me see the reason to accept his help, he withheld it until I turned the Falcon over to him."

This didn't fit with the altruistic impression of Hayes that Reed had gotten from Hoshi. His confusion must have shown on his face, because Kleth added, "Ma'Hew wanted to see if trade with the Klingon outer worlds would be profitable, and the Falcon and I were to help. While I enjoy the challenge of being in space, commanding a ship, I did not enjoy being a businessman, arranging contracts, haggling over prices. I was more than willing to let Ma'Hew take care of that."

Kleth got up and peered at the dispenser.

"Water? Tea? Coffee?" Reed asked.

Turning to face him, Kleth remarked, "No wonder you Humans are so puny."

"Sorry. Blood wine isn't standard fare on Starfleet ships."

Kleth sat down again, and Reed tried to get him back on the topic he wanted to discuss. "You still haven't said why you serve her so willingly."

"You may call her by her name now," Kleth said with a small smile. "You are her chosen one and you have that right."

"All right," Reed said with a small smile of his own. "Why do you serve Hoshi?"

"She was mated to Ma'Hew," the Klingon said simply. "She now leads his house, and has proven worthy of being followed."

Reed was struck by an idea. "But, if I have become Hoshi's mate, doesn't that mean she is part of my house?"

"Not yet. She set out on this path of vengeance before you were involved. She must fulfill it." Kleth scratched his beard thoughtfully. "In doing so, she has given me a purpose."

"Purpose?"

"To avenge Ma'Hew's death." Kleth's armor creaked as he shifted in the chair. "I would have been killed if Ma'Hew hadn't intervened, but instead, he died in my place. I have a duty to fulfill to his mate, who wishes to avenge him."

Reed didn't want to make the Klingon angry and ruin the rapport they seemed to be developing, but he had to find out if there was another reason for Kleth's loyalty.

"Hoshi told me about her agreement with you," he said. "She's going to turn the Falcon back over to you when this is over."

Kleth growled, but that was all. Reed slowly relaxed when the Klingon didn't make a move against him.

"Yes," Kleth said, "but that is not why I do these things for her. She is worthy, and her desires are my orders. It is a shame that she is not really a Klingon. But she knows, and I know, that she is not suited to command a Klingon warbird, no matter how well she pretends. We are joined for this one purpose, and when that purpose is achieved, then she will wisely free herself of the Falcon and me."

Reed believed him. If there was one thing he had learned in the short time he had known Kleth, it was that this Klingon didn't lie.

Some time later, after Kleth had left, Tucker was back under the engineering panel in the scout ship, installing the connections to bring the engine online. Reed wasn't surprised that the visit to the Falcon's engineering department had made him talkative.

"You should see the set-up down there. It's terrible," Tucker said. "They don't have too many people on board who really know more than the basics about warp engines. The place is a mess."

"That's probably because most of their engineering personnel were killed in an accident just before Matthew Hayes took over the ship," Reed remarked.

Grunting as he tightened a connection, Tucker said, "Well, that explains Malin being in charge down there. He's kinda young for somebody to be in that position. He's pretty knowledgeable, but I can tell he hasn't had a lot of experience."

"You met Malin?" Reed asked, recognizing the name of the Klingon whose clothes he was wearing.

"Yeah. He's kinda small for a Klingon. I don't think he's full grown yet."

Reed rolled his eyes as Tucker, still talking, slid out from under the panel.

"He told me who won the bettin' pool, too, on you and the captain," he said, putting some tools back in his kit and taking out a spanner. "It was that big Klingon who was in here earlier."


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

Reed walked unescorted through the dim corridors on his way to Hoshi's cabin. He met very few of the crew, which only reinforced his opinion that the warbird was understaffed. The engineers and any others who had been killed in the accident that had allowed Hayes to obtain the ship had apparently never been replaced.

Tucker was going to spend the evening in the scout ship. Malin had offered him a berth in the lower officers' area, but Tucker had turned him down, saying the bunk in the scout ship had to be more comfortable than "a damn metal pallet."

He was glad Tucker had volunteered to stay with the scout ship. He was going to suggest it in any case, so that it wasn't left unattended. He hoped Tucker's presence would be enough to discourage the Klingons from poking around in it.

He pushed the door chime at the captain's quarters and heard Hoshi shout "Nuqneh!" Entering, he found her seated at the desk, padds strewn across the surface. She spared him a brief glance before turning her attention back to the padd in her hands.

"What's all this?" he asked, taking a seat across from her.

"There's just as much paperwork aboard a Klingon ship as there is any other," she responded absently, pushing a stray lock of hair off her face.

He watched her work for a few moments, beguiled by the play of light on her hair and the pursing of her lips as she entered some figures into the padd. She had taken off her outer garments and was dressed the soft, loose blouse and pants that she wore under the armor. He didn't blame her for taking the armor off whenever she was away from the Klingon crew. He'd only worn it for one day and already he was tired of it.

Easing out of the padded breastplate, he pulled it off over his head and heaved a sigh of relief. Looking up, he caught her smiling at him.

"It is a bit much, isn't it?" he said as he tossed the breastplate over into the corner to join her pile of armor.

"Not for a Klingon."

She went back to her work, so he got up to look around the cabin. There was a small resequencer on one wall, and he got a glass of water.

He heard her mutter as she put the padd down. Turning to the computer on her desk, she punched in a series of commands. Whatever it was she saw there brought a frown to her face.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"No, not really," she said and shut off the computer. "This...expedition...is costing more than I thought it would. Not that that matters. I'm a wealthy woman since I sold the shipping line. But I just tried to transfer some funds from my accounts on Earth. For some reason, my access has been denied."

"That was probably Archer's doing," he said.

"Who's Archer and how would he know about me?"

Reed came to sit down in the chair across the desk from her again. "He's the captain of the Starfleet ship that interrupted your raid on that freighter. I, ah, told him about you."

"How could you have possibly told him my name?" she asked.

He could see the suspicion in her eyes. She probably thought he'd sent a transmission from the scout ship while he was in there alone with Tucker. He needed to disabuse her of that notion, just in case he needed to do something like that later.

"It was after the first time we met," he said.

"On the planet?"

"No, before that. Right after the firefight on the freighter. I ran your description through the Starfleet database, cross-referencing with the shipping industry, and came up with you."

"Oh."

As long as they were on the subject, he asked, "How'd you find out my name?"

"I got into Starfleet's records using my old ID number with H-S Shipping. Guess that won't work again."

For a moment they regarded each other, small smiles playing on their faces as they realized the similarity of the methods they'd used to find out each other's names.

Reed continuing to watch her as her gaze left him to focus again on the padds on her desk. He was unwilling to break the silence, savoring the quiet they shared, but he needed more information from her.

"So, Captain," he began in a bantering tone. "What are your orders going to be when we reach Shidak?"

She looked back up at him before answering evenly, "We give him the scout ship. I get into his stronghold. I kill him."

"That's it?" he asked.

"That's it."

Reed looked at her in disbelief. "Don't you have any more...detail?"

"What more do I need?" she asked. "Once I give him the ship, I'm in."

"Don't you think he'll have taken a few precautions?"

"Such as?"

"Such as not allowing you to have weapons around him?" Reed shook his head. "I'm sorry. I know you command a ship full of Klingons, but I can't see you waltzing in to some pirate's lair and killing him with your bare hands."

Hoshi considered for a moment. "You're right. I'll take Kleth along."

"Are you out of your mind?" he all but shouted as he got to his feet.

"I've been commanding Klingons for six months now. What do you think?" she yelled back as she jumped to her feet as well.

Leaning across the desk, he grabbed her shoulders and gave her a shake. "You don't have a plan -- you have a death wish! I thought you wanted to get away."

"Of course I want to get away," she retorted quickly. "But I want to kill that bastard more!"

Calming himself, Reed gave her shoulders a squeeze and let go. He was certain she meant to kill Shidak. He was also certain she'd get herself killed in the process.

"Hoshi," he began, trying to reason with her, "you've got to let me help you do this."

"Why?" she asked sharply, throwing her arms up in the air. "So you can catch Shidak, then turn me in, too? I don't think so."

"You're only going to get yourself killed!"

She froze at his words. So enraptured was he by her luminous eyes staring at him in shock that he almost missed her next question.

"Why would you care if I was killed?"

"I..." he started and had to look away so that she couldn't see the emotion in his eyes. "I, uh, don't want you to get hurt."

"Oh," he heard her say softly, followed by the rustling sound of her garments as she sat back down behind the desk. When he glanced up, she was looking at him in disappointment, and she quickly turned her attention away from him to a padd.

He'd upset her, but he didn't know how he had done it. He thought she'd be pleased that he didn't want her to get hurt. He'd almost said something else, but she had already made it clear where her heart lay, and it wasn't with him.

Bloody hell! His overwhelming urge was to protect her, cherish her, even love her. He'd all but said that. Couldn't she see it?

With a muttered curse, he turned and left the cabin.

* * *

Hoshi didn't look up until he was gone. She'd driven him away. It was the last thing she wanted, but she'd done it all the same. 

When she had asked him why he cared if she got killed, she thought he was going to say something else. He'd hesitated, thinking about it, then said he didn't want her to get hurt. He probably wanted her in one piece to take back for punishment after this mess was taken care of, she thought bitterly.

After all, she'd stolen a Starfleet vessel and, for all intents and purposes, she was holding two Starfleet officers against their will.

And then there was the freighter where her boarding party had killed the crew. Reed didn't know about that. She had no doubt there would be repercussions somewhere down the line from that debacle.

She'd ordered the Klingons not to kill anyone but that hadn't stopped them. The fact that she hadn't been able to prevent them from killing weighed heavily on her. Ultimately, as their captain, she was responsible for their actions, despite certain sanctions she had that Reed didn't know about. She was damn sure those sanctions didn't include killing innocent freighter crew members.

How could she have expected more from Reed? They'd shared sex, not marriage vows. She was the one who had given in to a base urge, and he had taken what she'd given.

Once again the feeling of betraying Matthew came to shame her. Hating herself, she picked up the closest padd and threw it as hard as she could across the room.

* * *

Reed found Tucker in the scout ship, just as he expected. What he hadn't expected was the Klingon engineer, Malin, sitting comfortably in the pilot's chair. 

"Am I interrupting?" Reed asked with a touch of asperity as he stepped through the hatch.

"Ah, no," Tucker said, straightening up where he had been slouching on the bunk. "We were just talkin' 'bout the Falcon's engine."

"The Falcon's?" Reed asked suspiciously, mindful of the need not to disclose the scout ship's secrets. "Not...?"

"No, not about that," Tucker hurriedly assured him. "I was just givin' Malin here some advice on how to fix a few problems down in their engine room."

Reed muttered under his breath as he went to the food storage bins and looked through what was available. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Klingon watching him curiously. Picking out a fish dinner, he pulled the tab to open it and leaned back against the bulkhead. When Tucker scooted over to make room on the bunk, he moved to sit there.

"I should thank you, Malin," Reed said, "for the use of the clothes."

Malin nodded, watching him as he ate.

Tucker resumed their earlier discussion, and the technical terminology soon left Reed behind. His mind was beginning to wander off in other directions when a question from Malin was directed at him.

"Why are you here?"

Reed wasn't quite sure what Malin was asking. "What do you mean?"

"You should be in the mistress' cabin," the Klingon said.

Before Reed could say anything, a deeper Klingon voice came from outside the hatch. "Yes, Ma'Com should be with the captain," said Kleth, sticking his head in the open hatch and looking around before climbing in.

"Did she send you to get me?" Reed asked irritably, continuing to eat even though the food now tasted like cardboard.

"No. But I have just come from her," Kleth said. "Go fix whatever it is that you have made wrong."

"I didn't 'make anything wrong.' She did," Reed said stubbornly.

"I will take you to her," Kleth said, reaching to grab him by the shirtfront.

"All right! Let go of me."

As Reed stepped out of the scout ship followed closely by Kleth, Malin looked to Tucker in puzzlement.

"Lovers' tiff," Tucker said by way of explanation.


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

Hoshi had taken out her anger at herself on Kleth. He was a convenient target, and so she had berated him about minor infractions by the crew, sloppy repair work on the navigational console, and the quality of the gagh in the mess hall.

Kleth had stood stoically through the entire tirade. When she finished, he opened his mouth for the first time since he had entered her cabin. "Where is Ma'Com?" he asked.

Instead of answering, she had screamed at him, picking up a flagon of blood wine on the table and hurling it at him. Kleth had made a tactical retreat and went in search of Reed. He found him at the first place he had checked -- the scout ship.

Now standing outside her cabin with Reed, Kleth said warningly, "You are to share these quarters with her each evening. Do not make me hunt you down again."

Reed had no choice but to push the chime and wonder if what sounded like rattling chains was Kleth laughing at him as the Klingon walked away down the corridor.

There was no answer to the chime. She must really be in a bad mood. Kleth had told him that she had been yelling, but now there was utter silence. With every woman he'd known, from his mother and his sister to a string of female acquaintances, the silent treatment was an indication of displeasure of monumental proportions.

Maybe he'd be lucky and find she had locked the door. That way he could honestly tell Kleth that she wouldn't let him in.

Thumbing the button, he was surprised when the door slid open. He took a cautious step into the cabin, looking around for Hoshi. She wasn't behind the desk, which was still covered with padds, and the bed was empty, not that he expected to find her there.

Then he heard the sound of running water from beyond the closed bathroom door.

Moving quietly, he went to the door and opened it. Klingons were much less modest than Humans, and the bathroom reflected that. When Reed looked in, he was greeted by the sight of a totally naked Hoshi. Her back was to him as she stood in the shower, which was only a sunken area on the floor where two bulkheads formed a corner.

Her hair was in an untidy bun on top of her head, a few strands falling free to trail down her neck. He held his breath, watching the play of muscles on her back as she raised one arm to drag a washcloth over it, and his desire kindled immediately.

Congratulating himself on taking off his outer armor the last time he was in the cabin, Reed quietly removed the rest of his clothing as Hoshi, unaware of him, continued lathering soap on her body. Her eyes were shut as he silently crossed the distance between them and stopped close enough for her to feel the heat of his body. His head tilted to one side, he saw her eyes fly open as she registered the unexpected presence.

She spun around to face him. "How dare--" she started to say, but her foot slid out from under her, and only his quick reflexes kept her from falling. He grabbed her arms and pulled her up, his mouth dropping down forcefully on hers.

He felt her struggle, trying to pull away, and he pinned her arms between them. He ran one of his hands around her back, caressing her waist before pulling her closer to him as he continued to kiss her.

Her struggles abruptly ceased, and he felt her body voluntarily mold against his as she moaned against his lips. No longer fighting him, she urged him even closer, lifting one leg to wrap around his upper thigh.

He moved so that her back was against a bulkhead. His consuming urgency to fill her left no room for finesse. But between the slippery floor and the need to hold her in place, he couldn't get enough friction to satisify either of them.

He carried her unprotesting out of the bathroom to the bed. They fell together, and he was careful not to crush her underneath him. Burying his face in her neck, he took her wildly, and she responded.

He wondered vaguely if he was hurting her, but she started to keen, urging him on with her legs wrapped around him. He was transfixed by her expression of rapture as she met her release, and it pushed him over the edge.

* * *

Hoshi was in a subdued mood as they ate dinner in her cabin. They were having what the mess hall was serving, and neither she nor Reed seemed to have much of an appetite, despite the fact that none of the food was moving. 

She toyed with her fork, pushing stray pieces of Klingon stew around her plate, as she gave only half her attention to Reed's description of Tucker's appalled reaction to the state of the Falcon's engine.

"I think I can talk him into lending a hand in engineering tomorrow," Reed said before he took a bite of the tough bread that accompanied the stew.

"That would be good," Hoshi said dispiritedly, her thoughts elsewhere as he continued to talk.

The interlude in the shower and later the bed had only served to reinforce the differences between Matthew and Reed. And she really should stop thinking of him by his last name, she told herself snidely. They'd shared her bed, not to mention the shower.

Matthew had never taken her like that. He'd always been gentle, almost worshipful of her body. He had respected her and her wishes.

She had been surprised by Malcolm's unexpectedly appearance in her shower, and had been shocked by his aggressiveness. She had instinctively started to fight him, but his unrestrained ardor had quickly quelled her opposition. She had wanted him.

She still wanted him, physically, but she also wanted something more.

Once again her mind took up its unwelcome comparisons. Matthew would find some way, every day, to tell her he loved her. She doubted the word "love" was in Malcolm's vocabulary.

"What?" she asked, aware that Malcolm had asked her something and was waiting for an answer.

"I said, 'Are you all right?'"

She looked up to meet his eyes, and was startled to see the concern there.

"I'm fine. Just not very hungry," she said, looking back down at her plate.

"I wasn't asking about your appetite," he said softly.

She put down the fork she'd been toying with. "I'm fine," she said again.

"Hoshi..."

She could hear the uncertainty in his voice and refused to look at him.

"Hoshi, I didn't...when we...I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Her head shot up at that question and she stared at him where he sat across the table from her. He was leaning forward, the concern she had seen moments before magnified. But there was something else -- regret, perhaps?

"Why?" she asked

He shook his head slightly. "I didn't mean to hurt you," he began to apologize, and she realized he didn't understand what she was asking.

"You didn't hurt me," she said softly and saw the tension in his face start to fade. She forced herself to keep going, to ask about what she really wanted to know. "Why are you concerned that you might have hurt me?"

When Malcolm tore his gaze away, her heart dropped. Her mind supplied a number of cruel reasons why he didn't want to hurt her. Maybe he was having a hard time reconciling his intimacy with her in relation to his duty to Starfleet, or maybe he believed Kleth might come after him if he hurt her. Or maybe he just thought she wouldn't give in so easily next time.

With these ideas chasing each other around in her head, the words that did come out of his mouth weren't the ones she expected him to say.

"Hoshi," he said, "I don't ever want to do anything to hurt you."

She watched as he lifted his eyes to hers, and the intensity in those blue-grey orbs was a brilliant, all-consuming cold fire. She was barely aware of him moving, coming to kneel by her side, as she kept her eyes locked on his.

"I don't think I could bear it if anything ever happened to you," he said, "least of all if I were the one responsible. I care about you, Hoshi."

That was probably as close to love as he could come, she thought resignedly, and couldn't think of anything to say. When his lips came to possess hers, she didn't struggle at all.


	18. Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

The first place Reed checked the next morning was the docking bay. The scout ship, he found, was locked up tight.

Unlocking the hatch, he climbed in and saw that the bunk was rumpled. Apparently Tucker had spent the night aboard, but he was gone now.

Reed quickly checked the interior. Everything seem to be in order, nothing missing, nothing out of place. Sitting down in the pilot's chair, his gaze came to rest on the communications console.

It was tempting. He could make a quick, compressed communications burst to Archer. He decided against it, though, as he still had a few days before the time limit he'd given Archer was up.

There was also a chance the Klingons would pick up the transmission, then all hell would break loose. No sense angering them when he had reached the point where he was allowed to move about the Falcon without an escort. He'd have to trust to luck that Enterprise would be close enough to show up like the cavalry of the old American West if he needed help.

Tucker was probably in engineering. He and Malin seemed to be getting along well, and Reed had no doubt that the ebullient engineer was down in the bowels of the ship, tinkering with something or other to improve the Falcon's engine and passing along some expertise to the young Klingon at the same time.

He'd go check to make sure that was where Tucker had gotten off to. Climbing back out of the scout ship, he shut the hatch and initialized the locking mechanism, only to jump when a huge hand clamped down on his shoulder.

"Why do you lock it, Ma'Com?"

Reed turned around to face Kleth. "No offense, Kleth," he said, "but your engineers really don't know much. This is more to keep them from unintentionally damaging my ship than it is to keep them out, if they should become curious."

Kleth's expression told Reed that he didn't buy that story but was willing to go along with it.

"The Captain would not be pleased if something were to happen to this ship," the Klingon said, adding, "whether our engineers -- or yours -- caused it."

"Look, Kleth," Reed said, blowing out a frustrated breath of air. "We both want the same thing -- we want to get Shidak. I'm working with you on this. I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize that."

"As long as you remember that, there will be no problems," Kleth said.

Reed stepped around the Klingon, intent on finding Tucker, and Kleth fell into step with him. "Where are you going now?" the Klingon asked.

"Engineering," he replied shortly, wondering if he had been wrong about being able to roam the ship freely and Kleth would dog his footsteps all day. "I want to see what Tucker is up to."

Kleth chuckled. "That one! He is what you Humans call 'skittish.' Malin seems impressed with him, however."

"Tucker knows engines," Reed assured him. "You couldn't have a better person working on the Falcon's."

"Let us hope so," Kleth said. "She will need every advantage when we confront that son of a targ Shidak."

They walked in silence until they reached the ladder that would take them to engineering. Reed has just put his foot on the top rung when Kleth's unexpected comment stopped him.

"She isn't Klingon, no matter how much she pretends to be."

Reed had been trying to push thoughts of Hoshi out of his mind all morning. That's why he was meandering around the Falcon, trying to find things to do. At least he might be able to do something productive if he wasn't near her. The things he thought of when she was close to him had nothing to do with his mission.

Drawing his foot back up to the deck, Reed resigned himself to listening to Kleth. Hoshi had told him the big Klingon was something of a philosopher, and he could see by the look on Kleth's face that he was in the mood to talk.

"I think I've figured out that she's not Klingon," Reed said with a small smile, crossing his arms as he waited for Kleth's next pronouncement.

"She does not deserve to die."

Reed's heart sped up at this statement, which sparked a flame of anger in him. "She's not going to die. Not if I can do anything about it," Reed said heatedly, dropping his hands down to his sides where they clenched into fists.

He realized as soon as he had spoken that he had fallen into a trap. The fact that is was a subtle trap sprung by a Klingon was unusual, but it was a trap nevertheless.

"I charge you to keep her safe, Ma'Com," Kleth said, his eyes glittering in the dimness of the corridor.

"I thought that was part of your job," Reed countered.

"I guard her, yes, but there may soon come a time when I am not able to do that."

Do Klingons have premonitions, Reed wondered. He didn't think Kleth was in any danger from the crew, so he must be talking about when they would reach the pirates' lair. He considered the possibility that Kleth was planning something that neither he nor Hoshi knew about, but couldn't figure out what it might be.

Reed also felt a touch of pride that Kleth, the faithful bodyguard as well as the embodiment of all that Klingons admired, had formally entrusted him with Hoshi's safety, knowing the high regard in which he held her.

"I'd give my life for hers," he told the Klingon solemnly, and saw Kleth give him a brief approving nod.

* * *

Tucker was hip-deep in schematics when Reed and Kleth strode into engineering. Three Klingons, including Malin, were gathered around the engineer as he traced a line of circuitry with his finger, showing them how to bypass a relay that had gone on the fritz. 

"Report!" Kleth barked loudly as he approached the knot of engineers, causing Tucker to jump.

"The port exhaust manifold is now operating at maximum efficiency," Malin said, "and the intermix ratio is at eighty-seven per--"

His report was interrupted by the appearance of Hoshi, who clambered down a ladder from the upper level. Reed hadn't even known she was in engineering, and he watched as she gracefully stepped down and onto the deck. Striding over to them, she gave Kleth a fierce smile, then a softer one to him.

"Continue," she said, her voice taking on the inflections of a Klingon as she turned to the engineers. "I would like to know how it goes."

Awed by her attention, Malin gulped and said, "The intermix ratio is at eighty-seven percent, but Tucker believes we can improve that."

As all eyes shifted to him, Tucker swallowed and nodded. "Shouldn't be too hard to do," he said. "It'll take 'bout a day."

"Good!" Hoshi said. "Continue with your work."

As she left engineering at a brisk walk, Kleth chuckled and leaned down from his great height to comment to Reed. "She is like this all the time, showing up with no notice around the ship. It keeps the crew on their toes."

Reed wasn't paying attention to Kleth. He was glaring at Malin instead. The other engineers had gone back to work but Malin was staring off in the direction in which Hoshi had gone.

"There is another one who would die for her," Reed said to Kleth, unable to keep the jealously out of his voice.

Kleth clapped Reed on the shoulder, almost knocking him over. "Just so long as he doesn't share her bed, eh, Ma'Com?"

Reed didn't bother to dignify that remark with a reply, but couldn't keep a snarl from escaping his lips. Malin caught the snarl and hastily rejoined the group of engineers.

"Very good, Ma'Com," the big Klingon said. "That should keep him in line...and out of her cabin."


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

Reed spent the rest of the morning with Tucker in engineering. His level of engineering knowledge didn't come close to what Tucker knew, but he could hold a welding torch and follow directions. He helped fix a number of relays as well as supervise one of the Klingon engineers who knew even less about plasma conduits than he did.

After several hours, he was ready for a break and something to eat. As he left engineering, Tucker pulled his head out of an access panel long enough to assure him that he'd soon take a break.

The Klingons on board the Falcon didn't eat a mid-day meal. Reed didn't know if that was a Klingon custom in general, or just these particular Klingons.

Whatever the case, Reed was hungry. He went to the docking bay, unlocked the scout ship, and, after entering, looked through the food supply. He picked out two sandwiches and was about to leave when a thought struck him. Turning back to the food storage bin, he rummaged around until he found another, smaller food packet.

Reed had only seen Hoshi that one time in engineering that morning, and he felt the need to check on her. So, taking the sandwiches and the other packet, he made his way to her cabin.

Along the way, he passed several Klingons, all of whom stared at him. He may have the run of the ship and their captain's bed, but they still didn't trust him.

* * *

Hoshi spent the rest of the morning making her rounds on the Falcon, checking on the upgrades Tucker was making in engineering as well as the ongoing maintenance throughout the ship. She'd managed early on to get rid of her ever-present watchdog, Kleth, by sending him in search of Malcolm. If those two didn't wind up killing each other, they'd probably turn out to be good friends. 

But then Kleth had caught up to her in engineering. It wouldn't do for the captain to hide from the first officer, so she'd barged in on the group clustered around the engine and asked for a report, instead of slinking away, as had been her first inclination.

Kleth's smothering presence irritated her sometimes. She hadn't wanted to be bothered by it this morning, when she'd wanted to be alone with her thoughts as she wandered the ship. Kleth was a little too intrusive for her introspective mood, not to mention nosy about her developing relationship with Malcolm.

She wasn't even sure she and Malcolm had a relationship. They'd been thrown together by fate, nothing more, she realized.

The fact that Malcolm had showed up in engineering when she'd been there didn't help, either. Still trying to figure out her feelings for him, she was too aware of the man when he was around to think clearly, and she had made a quick exit.

She had given up fighting her attraction to him the night before when he had said that he cared for her. It wasn't love, but right now she'd take what she could get from him.

They'd been awake half the night, doing things that even now made her shiver in delight as she recalled them. What they didn't do much of was sleep. She yawned as she keyed in the access code and the door to her cabin slid open.

Do Klingon captains ever nap, she wondered, glancing longingly at her bed. Shifting her gaze to the pile of padds on the desk, she decided they didn't. There was too much work for Klingon captains to do to be able to indulge in something as undisciplined as a nap.

She sat down at her desk, picked up a padd, and had just turned it on when the cabin door slid open again.

"Didn't I lock that?" she asked Malcolm.

"No," he said.

"Maybe you'll take care of that for me?" she asked, stifling a yawn.

He smiled as he thumbed the lock on the inside before coming over to the other chair at the desk.

"Brought you something," he said, clearing off a space on the desk and putting one of the sandwiches and the other food packet in front of her.

They were ration packs from his ship, she saw as she looked at the markings. She peered through the clear cellophane at the sandwich which appeared to be roast beef. She'd been eating Klingon food for so long now that the dried-up meat didn't really appeal to her.

She couldn't tell what was in the second food packet, as it was in some type of silvery foil-like wrap. She turned it to read the inscription. Immediately her spirits took a leap upward.

"Cheesecake! You have cheesecake on your ship?" she asked in disbelief, grabbing the packet and tearing the end off, inhaling the rich scent of the dessert as she held it under her nose.

"That's the only one. I got it before Tucker managed to get a hold of it."

She put a piece in her mouth and closed her eyes, savoring the delicacy before swallowing with a moan of satisfaction. She opened her eyes to find Malcolm gazing in fascination at her.

"What's the matter?" she asked. "Haven't you ever seen anyone eat cheesecake before?"

He smiled. "I have, but no one's enjoyed it as much as you."

"I don't know when the last time was that I had cheesecake," she purred as she put another morsel in her mouth, closing her eyes again as she rolled it around with her tongue. "This is so good."

A strangling sound from Malcolm made her open her eyes.

"What?" she asked.

"Do you...do you have to eat it that way?" he stuttered. "It's a little...distracting."

"Eat your sandwich," she ordered, but took pity on him. She toned down her reaction to the cheesecake, settling on an occasional moan as she tasted each piece. Still, by the time she was finished with the treat, she could swear Malcolm was sweating.

Daintily licking her lips, she regarded him as he began to eat his sandwich. A stray thought crossed her mind that bringing her the piece of cheesecake was akin to Matthew bringing her cups of coffee as she worked. She quickly squashed that train of thought.

She waited until he had eaten to bring up a subject he had broached the other day. When he finished the last bite of his sandwich, she said, "You're right."

"About what?" he asked, getting up to get a glass of water.

"I don't have a plan," she said to his back where he stood at the resequencer.

He turned to stare at her, and she shifted uneasily under his gaze.

Returning to his chair, he set the glass on the desk. "I didn't think so," he said as he leaned back.

"Oh, shut up," she told him, but not rudely. "I've been so focused on getting to Shidak I haven't really thought about what I'll do once I get there." She paused, shook her head, and added, "Other than kill him, of course."

He leaned forward to pick up the glass and took a swallow. "Do you want some advice?" he asked, looking at her over the rim of the glass before taking another drink.

"Would I be talking to you about this if I didn't?" she countered testily, a trace of her Klingon temper showing.

"No, probably not." He put the glass back down. "First, you're sure that by bringing Shidak my ship, you'll be allowed to see him?"

"It will give me entry to his elite circle of pirate captains," Hoshi said. "Generally, if someone brings him a ship, he sees them, face to face, or so I've been told by some of the other pirates we've run into."

"What does he do with all these ships?" Malcolm asked curiously.

"It depends upon what type of ship is involved. Freighters, which have been altered enough to hide their original appearance, are used to transport captured cargo." Hoshi laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Oftentimes, the loot winds up going to its original destination, only Shidak gets the profit, not the shipping company that lost the cargo."

"I'd think he'd eventually run out of the need for more freighters. There's only so much freight to ship," Malcolm said.

"That's true," she agreed. "If that's the case, and if a captured freighter isn't in very good condition, it's probably sold for scrap, or broken apart and the pieces used in other projects."

She looked away for a moment, thinking, before continuing. "Faster and more heavily armed vessels that are captured are turned over to members of Shidak's inner circle. The captains find crews for them, and Shidak's unofficial fleet becomes even bigger."

"So, the fact that my scout ship has an experimental engine capable of--" Malcolm stopped suddenly and gave her a small smile as he continued. "Let's just say it can go very fast. My ship with its engine would be of interest to Shidak. If he could tear the engine apart, study it, adapt the pirate ships' engines..."

Hoshi nodded as she saw he understood the implications. "No one would be able to catch his ships if that engine is adapted for the pirates. He has to be interested in it."

She heard him sigh.

"We've got the bait," he said, "but what are we going to do when we get there? And how do you know where his stronghold is?"

"Kleth knows where it is," she said smugly. At Malcolm's inquisitive look, she smiled. "The Klingons on board this ship are renegades from their own people. Somehow, Shidak found out about them and made contact. He suggested that Kleth join his organization."

"Kleth turned him down, didn't he?"

"Yes," Hoshi said. "He may be a renegade, but he has certain standards. Piracy for the benefit of someone who has no honor isn't one of them."

Malcolm smirked at that, then sobered. "We still have to get inside his base of operations."

"I'm assuming he'll invite me," Hoshi said with a shrug. "He's not getting your ship any other way."

"You'll have to take me and Kleth along, and Tucker," he said. When she made a face, he added, "Don't give me that look. Pirate crews are mixed bags. Shidak shouldn't have any trouble accepting that your crew has Klingons and Humans shipping together. In fact, it's probably more believable than a ship full of Klingons led by the only Human on board."

She frowned at this slight of her abilities, but let it pass. He was right. She also realized that she wanted him there with her during the confrontation with Shidak.

"There is one problem," he said, interrupting her thoughts.

"What's that?"

"We're going to have to get Tucker into Klingon battle armor."


	20. Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

Hoshi and Malcolm tried to think of every possible scenario that could happen at the meeting with Shidak, but a lack of information limited their ideas. For one thing, all they knew about Shidak's base was its location. They didn't know how many men he had there, or whether there would be other pirate ships in the vicinity to back him up. They didn't even know if he was Human or alien.

"Kleth said that Shidak spoke Klingon without an accent," Hoshi told Malcolm as they sat in her cabin, she behind her desk and he in the chair on the other side. "That doesn't mean he's a Klingon, though."

Malcolm grunted as he put his feet up on the desk. "If he is Klingon, you probably know how to deal with him," he said, and Hoshi snickered.

Recalling something they'd talked about earlier, she pushed a button on the comm panel on the desk. "Kleth, report to my cabin. And bring that other Human with you. Stop by the crew's quarters on the way and find some clothing and armor for him."

As she flicked off the button, Malcolm said, "Oh, this ought to be good."

They sat for a while in silence, waiting for Kleth and Tucker. Malcolm picked up a padd at random and glanced at it.

Hoshi suddenly felt shy and picked up another padd to avoid looking at him. She had been comfortable with him while they were discussing strategy. He had presented some good ideas she would never have dreamed of.

But, she thought with a sinking feeling, that's because he's been trained by Starfleet to deal with security. He would be a good ally, if he didn't turn on her, or turn her in. Maybe if she told him about... No, not yet. He'd just hold that over her head, saying she'd get into even more trouble because of it if she killed Shidak.

Hoshi looked up at the clatter when he tossed the padd back on the desk.

"Fuel reports?" he asked as he put his feet back on the floor.

"Told you there was paperwork," she said.

The chime sounded. Hoshi called out in Klingon and a wary Tucker, followed by Kleth, entered after the door slid open.

"You wanted to see me...ma'am?" the Southerner asked.

"Yes. You need to fit in better with the crew," Hoshi stated, motioning to Kleth who was carrying various pieces of Klingon battle armor.

Tucker looked at the heavy-duty clothing, looked at Malcom who was decked out in a similiar outfit, then back at Kleth.

"Don't have a choice, do I?" he said.

"If you wish to carry out your mission, it would help if you dress accordingly," Hoshi said.

"Accordingly?"

"Like a pirate," she growled. "You're one of my crew now."

Kleth handed over the Klingon accouterments to Tucker and gave him a shove toward the bathroom. "I understand some Humans do not like to be seen in front of others without their clothing," he said with a glance at Hoshi, who blushed slightly, recalling Kleth barging in on her and Malcolm the day before.

"Damn straight!" Tucker muttered, shutting the bathroom door behind him.

Kleth looked at Malcolm, who was grinning. "So, Humans enjoy the embarrassment of other Humans when they are naked?"

Hoshi burst out in a loud guffaw, and Malcolm joined her. Kleth certainly was learning a lot about the nature of Humans. She laughed so hard that her sides began to hurt, and she wrapped her arms around herself.

She'd managed to calm down before Tucker opened the bathroom door. He'd had to take off his civilian clothes to put on the softer garments worn under the battle armor. His version of the armor, like Malcolm's, had no rank insignia.

No one said anything as they took in his appearance -- one slender Human in dark protective clothing made for someone much stockier than he. He looked like a malnourished turtle poking its head out of its shell, Hoshi thought.

"Well?" Tucker asked, holding his arms out from his sides.

"You do not wear it as well as Ma'Com," Kleth said with an air of disappointment.

Hoshi tried to stop a new wave of laughter but was powerless to contain it when Malcolm voiced the very same thing she was thinking.

"Don't think I've ever seen a blond Klingon before," he said.

"Like you really think I'm gonna pass as a Klingon?" Tucker asked skeptically over Hoshi's laughter.

"No," Kleth answered, "but you must look like you are part of a Klingon crew."

* * *

Tucker and Kleth left to go back to engineering, and Hoshi could hear the engineer muttering his displeasure about the uncomfortable outfit as he made his way out the door. 

"I'll break it to him later that he's going with us to meet Shidak," Malcolm said.

"Better you than me," she replied as she picked up yet another a padd, intent on resuming her work.

Besides, she needed to quit thinking about Malcolm, who was seated only a few feet away. She'd never get any work done if she allowed herself to be distracted by him.

She tried to concentrate on the information on the padd, something about the amount of the Falcon's food stores, but could feel his eyes on her. She persisted for a few more minutes, but when she realized she'd read the same sentence four times, she gave up. Imitating him earlier, she tossed the padd on the desk and sat back with a sigh.

"Don't you have anything else to do?" she asked, her breath catching on the last word as she saw the look in his eyes.

"Actually, no," he replied, his voice deep and husky.

Clearing her throat, she looked away, trying to think of something for him to do. Her eyes fell on her bed, and she quickly averted her gaze. She was racking her brain, trying to think of something to say, when he spoke up.

"By the way, I'm curious about something," he said.

She looked over in time to see him take something from a pocket in his battle armor. He held it up and flipped it to her. Catching it, she saw it was the tracker she had found on her sash.

"Why didn't you destroy this when you found it?" he asked.

Turning the tracker over and over with her fingers, she avoided looking at him. She really hadn't wanted to tell him yet, but there might not be a better opportunity.

"There are a few things you don't know about me," she began.

"Such as?"

Still avoiding his eyes, she blurted out, "I'm working for Starfleet, too."

"What? That's impossible! I'd know if you were a Starfleet agent."

"Maybe not," she said under his disbelieving stare. "And it's not like I'm officially working for them. I'm sort of a...free agent...I guess you could call it."

"I suggest you tell me exactly what you are talking about," he said sharply.

"Well, after Matthew was killed, I didn't know at first what I was going to do," she said, her eyes losing their focus as she remembered that awful time. "I had some notion of continuing to run H-S Shipping, but my heart wasn't in it. Not without Matthew."

She could feel the tears threatening and drew a shuddering breath, angry at herself. She didn't want to appear weak in front of Malcolm. She wiped her eyes quickly, trying to rein in her rampant emotions, but every time she thought about what had happened to Matthew... She took another deep breath and plunged on.

"Kleth showed up on my doorstep about two weeks after Matthew died. He had to tell me himself what had happened. And he pledged the loyalty of himself and the Falcon's crew to me, in Matthew's stead."

What was with her today? Now she felt like laughing as she recalled her sudden impulse to ship out on the Falcon. "I visited the Falcon at Kleth's insistence. That's when I came up with the idea to become its captain, and this whole crazy plan to seek out Shidak and kill him."

Malcolm interrupted her brusquely. "That doesn't tell me how you are involved with Starfleet."

"I'm getting to that," she said just as sharply. "It took another two weeks to make the Falcon ready for travel. Supplies, repairs, and everything else it takes to prepare a ship. It was during that time that I was approached by a person with Starfleet Intelligence."

She saw Malcolm's interest pique even more, if that was possible, at the mention of Intelligence. "Who was this person?" he asked.

"Vice Admiral Nolan."

Malcolm shook his head, not recognizing the name, but then, it wasn't his branch of Starfleet. There were probably a lot of higher-ups he hadn't heard of.

When he didn't say anything, she continued, "He guessed that I was planning something, getting the Falcon ready for deep space. He didn't ask exactly what I was planning to do. He did, however, suggest that if I were to meet any pirates, Shidak in particular, that any information I found out should be passed on to him. I would be his 'person on the inside.'"

"So he wanted you to infiltrate Shidak's organization?"

"Yes."

"Did he tell you to kill Shidak?"

"No."

"Did you tell him that is what you were planning to do?"

"Of course not! Do you think he would have helped me if I told him that? He gave me certain codes to relay and receive information. He also gave me several ideas where to start looking for Shidak."

Hoshi sat there as Malcolm considered her revelation. His eyes were drawn to the tracker which she still held in her hand.

"So, since you knew I was Starfleet, you decided to bring me onto your ship, instead of leaving me and Tucker behind when our engine gave out," he stated, holding out his hand for the tracker.

"That's pretty much the gist of it," she said, giving it back. "And, you may not believe this but, well..."

"What?"

She laughed harshly before answering. "I must be insane. I can't believe I'm doing this."

"What?" he asked again.

"I really do believe it is wrong to take a life," she said, looking miserably at him. "Everything I believe in, everything I was brought up to believe... When Matthew went to the Falcon's aid, it was an affirmation of the way I try to live. He couldn't let that crew die, knowing he could have helped them. And I couldn't leave you behind when your engine gave out. You could have died if Tucker couldn't fix it or no one came along to help."

She began to laugh almost hysterically. "And even though I believe it's wrong, I'm going to kill someone, because that person took the life of someone I loved."

Malcolm was up and around her desk before she knew what he was doing. He gently drew her up until he was holding her as her laughter turned to sobs.


	21. Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

Malcolm held Hoshi while she cried, gently rubbing her shoulders and back as his thoughts tumbled over one another.

Her admission about being approached by Starfleet Intelligence didn't shock him. That they would place a civilian in such a precarious position, however, did bother him. Or maybe it was just because of the particular civilian involved, he realized, giving Hoshi a reassuring squeeze as she continued to cry.

He wondered why he hadn't he been informed that another branch of Starfleet was working on the piracy problem. He was a field agent involved in an undercover mission, and if there was a chance that he was going to run into other operatives, he should have been informed.

Someone in Intelligence, Vice Admiral Nolan no doubt, had figured out what Hoshi was up to and was going to use her for his own ends. Malcolm could see the reasoning behind recruiting her, given her unique position as the owner of a Klingon ship crewed by former renegades. She had a better of chance than most of getting into Shidak's organization.

It might work, if Nolan's aim was to take down Shidak, and Hoshi succeeded. But at what cost to Hoshi?

He felt a twinge of jealousy as he considered her motivation. She must have loved Matthew Hayes beyond measure to go to these lengths to avenge him.

She'd just told him that she didn't think it was right to take a life. Yet she was determined to kill Shidak. If she was able to kill him, would she wind up hating herself for what she had done -- violating one of the tenets in which she believed? No wonder she was so conflicted.

She'd also all but admitted that if she killed Shidak, she'd thought she'd be punished in some manner since she was working for Intelligence and her only instructions were to pass on information. What she didn't realize was that, with her plan to kill Shidak, she was most likely doing exactly what Intelligence wanted her to do. They were using her to do their dirty work, he thought with distaste.

And if any of this came to light and there were repercussions, Intelligence would blame her, saying they only wanted an inside source, not an assassin.

Wrapped up in these thoughts, he was surprised when she pulled away from his embrace. He smiled gently at her, but her face remained downcast. He touched a lock of her hair where it rested on her shoulder and she reached up to cover his hand with one of hers. Something was still upsetting her, he realized, as she gave his hand a small squeeze and turned away from him.

"I haven't told you everything," she said as if reading his mind.

"What more could you possibly tell me?" he asked.

"Something happened before we met," she said in a small, resigned voice. "There was another freighter."

He tried to turn her to face him but she wouldn't budge, so he settled for standing close behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and rubbing his cheek against her hair.

"Tell me," he said.

"I've always planned to get a ship to give to Shidak," she started. "Before you came along, we were searching for an appropriate ship."

"So you were acting as pirates, looking for a ship to capture?" he asked.

"Yes. We found an Estabi freighter that met our requirements, and before we boarded, I gave the order that no one was to be killed." He could hear the strain in her voice as she recounted the story. "But they fought us. Some of my crew got carried away with the blood rage, the battle lust that overtakes Klingons. Kleth tried to stop them, but...they killed all the Estabi."

Malcolm tightened his arms around her, not condemning her but supporting her, as she continued, "As captain, I am responsible for the actions of my crew. Those deaths are on my conscience. How could I have let that happen?"

"Sssh," he soothed her. "They're Klingons. That's the way they are."

"But they should have obeyed me!" she cried, whirling in his arms to face him. "I'm their captain."

"Yes, you are. But, under the circumstances, could even a Klingon captain have controlled them?" he asked.

As she started to protest, he hugged her tightly to him. "Don't you see?" he said. "You are the captain, but you didn't know your crew then, and they didn't know you. You were expecting them to follow your orders without question. But they aren't Humans. They have a different set of standards. The best you can do is show them how displeased you are with their actions."

"You mean punishment?" she asked.

"Well, it's a little late for that now. A lot has happened since that incident."

"Incident?" she asked incredulously, breaking away from him. "You call seventeen people being killed an 'incident?' That's a rather callous attitude, isn't it?"

Malcolm drew a long breath, trying to find a way to reason with her. He held out a hand imploringly. "Hoshi, it was a terrible thing to happen. But, there's nothing you can do about it now, except learn from it, and not put yourself -- or your crew -- in the same position where it can happen again."

He waited as Hoshi considered his words. He had known all along she had been carrying around enormous grief for her dead husband, but he hadn't had a clue about this other burden she was bearing. It went a long way toward explaining her hysterical outburst earlier when she had told him that she believed taking a life was wrong. She felt responsible for the deaths of the seventeen Estabi.

She finally took his hand, grasping it as if it were a lifeline, and reeled herself into his arms. He barely heard her muffled words against his shoulder. "Please, Malcolm, don't let me allow innocent people to be killed again."

* * *

He left her working at her desk. She'd calmed down, but her melancholy demeanor worried him. Perhaps a little time by herself would help. 

He found his steps taking him to engineering again. He didn't recognize Tucker at first, as he was dressed in the battle armor and the upper portion of his body was inside an access panel, but then he heard the engineer call out over the din, "Malin! You get a minute, come over here."

Reed walked up to his engineer and waited to get Tucker's attention until he pulled his head out of the panel.

"Hey, Commander!" Tucker greeted him. "What's goin' on?"

"Just checking on your progress," he replied, noting with amusement that the engineer was back to his normal, effervescent self. Give him an engine to work on and he was happy, apparently.

"We're movin' along OK. 'Bout got the engine efficiency as high as it can go, considerin'."

"Considering what?"

"Well, they don't have a lot of spare parts. In some cases, we've just had to make do or jury rig some things."

"Will it hold together under combat conditions?"

Tucker's easy, open expression instantly became guarded. "Do you know somethin' I don't?" he asked.

Reed crossed his arms as he replied. "It's entirely possible we'll come under fire at some point during our dealings with Shidak. I just want to make sure we're as prepared as we can be."

Tucker shrugged. He looked around at the bustle in engineering before saying anything. "The ship's about as ready as it can be," he said. "The crew...well, I don't know."

"Are you saying they won't be any good in a fight?" Reed asked.

"No, no, I'm not saying that. It's just...well, I'm not used to workin' with a bunch of Klingons. I don't think they react to things the same way we do. They're kinda volatile."

"For that reason alone," Reed said with a hard smile, "I'm glad they're on our side going into this."

"Ya got a point there. Anythin' else you need to ask me about?"

Reed shook his head as he watched a couple of the crew wrestle a power generator into place next to a control panel. "Seems like you have things under control down here. You having any trouble with them?"

"No. They want their ship to be in the best shape possible. Since I know more about warp engines than most of them do, they're willin' to take my advice," Tucker said without a trace of modesty.

Wondering what to do next, a sudden inspiration struck Reed. "Why don't you come by the captain's quarters later? I'll get some packets from the scout ship, and we can treat the captain to some real food."

"She's under a lot of pressure, isn't she, on a ship full of Klingons," Tucker remarked.

"More than you'll ever know," Reed said.


	22. Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

Dinner of ration packs from the scout ship and water from the resequencer didn't start out as smoothly as Reed had hoped. First of all, he hadn't counted on Kleth being present.

"Bah!" the first officer said in disgust. "How can you eat such garbage?"

"Kleth, I told you before," Hoshi said, unable to keep the amusement out of her voice, "if you don't like it, go eat in the mess hall. Or have something brought here for you."

"This used to be a living creature?" he asked, pointing with his knife at the salmon fillet on his plate.

"Yes. A variety of fish from Earth," she said. "At one time in the past, there were fears that it would become extinct. It's still considered something of a delicacy."

"He'd probably like it better if the head and eyes were still on it," Tucker said, and didn't even flinch at the growl Kleth flung in his direction.

The engineer must be getting used to the big Klingon, Reed thought as he tried to hide his smile. His attention shifted to Hoshi, who seemed to be enjoying herself. She was eating spaghetti, twirling the noodles on her fork, as she bantered with Kleth and Tucker, and he was pleased to see she had eaten most of her meal.

Kleth finally gave up any pretense of liking the Human food, and stomped over to the comm panel at Hoshi's desk. "Mess hall! Bring food to me in the captain's quarters," he said, thumbing off the unit after a snarled reply came back over the comm.

"I'm glad we'll be done with our food before yours shows up," Tucker piped up. "It'll probably knock on the door by itself."

Kleth glared at Tucker as he walked back to the table from the comm panel. Reed hoped the engineer hadn't angered the Klingon with his smart mouth. But, as he was beginning to learn, Kleth's first fierce response was usually an automatic Klingon reaction, which would be followed by his own individual, more thoughtful response. This case was no exception.

Kleth sat back down in his chair, which was next to Tucker's. The engineer, Reed noted, kept a wary eye on Kleth, who eyed him back.

"If your fish walked up to the door and knocked, it would be worthy of being eaten by a Klingon," Kleth said with a straight face.

A smile slowly appeared on Tucker's face and he chuckled.

Kleth laughed in return and reached out to slap Tucker on the shoulder, but the engineer managed to dodge the blow. "Hey! I need that shoulder," he said, causing the Klingon to laugh again.

Reed caught Hoshi's eye and they exchanged a smile. It was good to see her so relaxed, especially after the emotional wringer she had gone through that afternoon. Maybe this impromptu dinner party was just the thing she needed. As long as she kept herself busy, running the ship and issuing orders, she seemed to be able to hold herself together. He had seen that it was only when she had time to think about her situation and everything that had led up to it that she began to question herself and would falter.

The chime announced the arrival of the meal for Kleth, who got up to take it from the crew member at the door.

"Ahhhhhh," Kleth rumbled in his soft bass as he brought the plate to the table. "Real food." The omni-present gagh was on the plate, Reed saw, as was some other concoction he couldn't begin to identify.

Tucker rolled his eyes, but there was a grin on his face. All that time he'd spent in engineering among the other Klingons must be giving him some confidence, or at least Reed hoped so.

Glancing over at Hoshi, he saw that she had put down her utensils, having finished her meal. He reached over to where he had earlier hidden something under an extra napkin.

"I have a surprise for you, Hoshi," he said.

Lifting up the square of cloth, he revealed a small foil-wrapped food packet.

"I thought you said there was no more cheesecake," she said, licking her lips in anticipation and gazing greedily at the packet.

"There isn't," he said. "This is even better."

He passed her the packet and her eyes lit up as she read the label.

"Turtles?" she asked, a gleam in her eyes when she looked back at him.

Reed nodded, pleased by her reaction. She opened the packet and tilted it, and four chocolate-covered confections tumbled out onto her plate.

"I suppose I should share," she said.

Picking up her plate, she held it out toward Reed, and he gave her a small smile before he took one of the turtles. She nodded toward Tucker, who also reached over and took one.

When her Klingon first officer looked at the remaining two turtles skeptically, she said, "Oh, come on, Kleth. Try one. You might like it."

His lip curling in disdain, he carefully picked up one of the remaining turtles and inspected it closely. "What is it?"

"Nuts covered in caramel and then dipped in chocolate," she said. "Its name comes from its resemblance to a creature on Earth, I think."

He tossed the tidbit into his mouth, chewed vigorously for a moment, and swallowed.

"Well?" Hoshi asked.

"It was small. Hardly worth the effort of eating it," he said. "And it will probably take an entire barrel of blood wine to get rid of the after-taste."

A small smile played around Hoshi's lips. "Among Humans, chocolate is considered an aphrodisiac," she teased him.

"Keep it for you and Ma'Com, then," the Klingon shot back at her.

"Uh, on that note," Tucker said, pushing back from the table and standing up, "I think I'll go take a quick look around engineering, then call it a night."

"Take Kleth with you," Hoshi said.

"Kleth?" the engineer asked uncertainly, glancing at the Klingon.

"Yes, I will go, too," he said, getting up from the table. "Let us stop by the mess hall on the way to engineering. I will show you some real Klingon food that will make you fill out that armor."

Tucker glanced helplessly at Reed and Hoshi as Kleth took him by the arm and led him out the cabin door. His lips silently formed the words "Help me!" before the door slid shut, cutting him off from view.

Reed glanced over at Hoshi, who had been chuckling as Tucker and Kleth left, and saw she had at last taken a tiny nibble of her turtle. Eyes closed, she had an expression of pure bliss on her face. He was going to have to make it a habit to bring her sweets more often if it always got that kind of reaction from her.

He felt his own reaction stir, and cleared his throat.

She opened her eyes a sliver and he was pinned by the sultry look she gave him as she took another nibble. "I know what you're doing," she purred.

"Oh?" he asked innocently. "What am I doing?"

Closing her eyes again as she delicately inserted the last of the turtle into her mouth, she gave a low moan of satisfaction. She didn't speak again until she had finished consuming the turtle, a task she dragged out and that kept him spellbound, especially when she daintily stuck her tongue out to caress her lips for the last smidgen of chocolate that rested there.

"Some men use sweet words. Some use flowers," she said. "You, however, have found my secret vice, and have used it shamelessly. Whatever am I going to do with you?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something," he said as she slowly stood up and walked over to him.

She very carefully sat on his lap, placing her arms around his neck. She leaned in close to him, her face nearing his, and he was drawn into her deep brown eyes staring into his. This time he let her take the lead, initiating the kiss, her hands tangling in his hair, and he brought his hands up to grasp her waist, holding her steady.

Eventually, the chair became uncomfortable. He stood up, holding her, and carried her to the bed. He made a mental note to check if there was more chocolate aboard the scout ship as he laid her down.


	23. Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

Reed was on his way to engineering again. It seemed like he spent half his time going back and forth between there and the captain's cabin.

They were getting close to Shidak's stronghold, and he wanted to check in with Tucker before he went to the bridge where Hoshi was overseeing last-minute preparations.

He wasn't given to premonitions, but he was more on edge than usual for a mission. There were just too many variables, too many things that could happen. Hoshi would be right in the middle of whatever happened. He'd have to protect her -- even from herself, if necessary.

As he walked along, he wished he and Hoshi had more time together before they reached Shidak. His mind slipped back to last night. She had readily given herself to him after Tucker and Kleth had left her cabin, surprising him with the intensity of her passion. She constantly amazed him. The more time he spent with her, the more he...

Loved her.

He slammed the bulkhead hatch he'd just passed through with more force than necessary. He would have been the last one to say a person could fall in love in only a few days, but it had happened. He'd fallen harder than he had ever imagined was possible.

But as long she was still in love with her dead husband, however, she'd never hear it from his lips.

The best he could do was be there for her. He wouldn't give her another burden to carry, not if he could help it. He could imagine her reaction if he told her he loved her. She might be pleased, but she'd also feel guilty, he knew, as if it were her fault that a man other than Matthew loved her -- that he loved her.

"You are angry, Ma'Com," Kleth said as he fell into step with Reed as he rounded a corner in the corridor leading to engineering.

Reed snarled in response. Less than week aboard the Falcon and he was starting to act like a Klingon, he thought. Well, it suited his mood right now. It might be the only thing that would keep him -- and Hoshi -- alive.

Striding along at a fast pace, Kleth for once had to keep up with him, despite the Klingon's longer legs. Reed entered engineering first, heading straight for Tucker, who was at the primary controls for the warp engine.

"Status!" he barked.

"Everything's as ready as it'll ever be," Tucker said, assuming a stance almost at attention. "Efficiency rating is up to 94 percent."

Reed nodded, turning around in a full circle to look at the Klingons at the monitoring stations scattered throughout engineering. "Looks like you're fully manned," he said.

"Or Klingon'ed," Tucker cracked.

Reed flashed him a smirk. Turning on his heel, he headed for the door, Kleth right behind him.

They walked quickly, neither speaking, unity of purpose matching their steps in tandem. When they came to an intersection of corridors, they both turned in the same direction. Reed was first up the ladder to the next deck, heading for the bridge, Kleth hard on his heels.

They arrived on the bridge to find an icy calm. Hoshi was sitting in the captain's chair, and Kleth moved to stand at his customary position slightly behind and to one side of her.

Hoshi acknowledged Kleth's presence with a slight nod. She was turning to Reed, who was standing where the ladder debouched onto the bridge, when a beeping from the communications console drew everyone's attention.

"It is from Shidak's location," reported the Klingon at the console, looking to Hoshi for instructions.

Reed saw her take a deep breath before she said, "Put it on screen."

"It is audio only, Captain."

"Well, then, let's hear it," she said with a trace of asperity.

At first there was only static as the Klingon pushed some buttons and made adjustments. Then the silence of an open channel came through, followed by the transmission.

"You have entered private space," said a harsh voice over the speaker. "Identify yourselves."

"This is the Falcon, under the command of Captain Sato. We seek an audience with Shidak," Hoshi said forcefully.

"For what purpose?" the voice came back.

"We seek to join his organization of...independent...ships," she answered carefully.

"No one is admitted without proper homage."

Reed heard Kleth growl softly, and saw Hoshi raise an eyebrow at the wording. Homage, indeed. Add delusions of grandeur to Shidak's quirks, he thought, as he noticed her ball her hands into fists before replying.

"We have more than proper homage," she said.

"You have not brought anything," the voice said harshly.

"Scan our docking bay, if you can at this distance!" Hoshi cried quickly. "We have something that will be of great interest to Shidak."

A long pause followed, and Hoshi got up to pace.

"We are being scanned," reported Garef from the helm.

"It is a small ship, not worth anything," the voice suddenly said over the speaker.

"Oh, but it is," Hoshi said. "It is a spy ship full of Starfleet technology. That alone would make it a worthy prize, but it has another secret as well." Before the anonymous voice could ask, she pushed on. "Its engine is a prototype, capable of faster speeds than any other ship in this quadrant."

"Proceed," said the voice. "Coordinates are being sent. Assume orbit when you arrive. You will be contacted at that time."

The sound of the connection being cut could be heard over the speaker, and Reed let out a pent-up breath. He was half-expecting they would be turned down and would have to fight their way in.

"Coordinates coming in," the Klingon at the communications console reported.

At Hoshi's nod, Kleth ordered, "Transfer them to the helm. Set the course, warp one." With a sly grin he added, "No need to show them we are in a hurry. Let them wait for us."

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Hoshi said, grinning fiercely at him. "How long until we reach the destination?"

"Four hours," answered Garef.

"Plenty of time," she remarked with a satisfied smile. To Kleth she said, "You have the bridge. I will be in my cabin."

Reed caught her gesture to follow as she made her way off the bridge. They walked in silence until they entered her cabin, where she immediately went to sit behind her desk.

"Well, that worked out," she said.

"Better than I had hoped," he answered, remaining standing and looking down at her. "We have to be ready when we get there, though."

"I know." She closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

"You OK?" he asked.

"Yes. It's just that that was a little..." She paused, eyes still shut, seeking the right word and finally coming up with, "...anti-climactic."

Once more he was struck by how much strain she was under. Granted, they hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. They never did when they were in bed together. But he knew that wasn't the only reason she had dark circles under her eyes.

"I'm going to check over the scout ship one more time," he told her and saw her eyes pop open. "Shidak will want a demonstration of its abilities. I want to make sure everything's operational."

She gave him a small, knowing grin. "Make sure you put that tracker somewhere in it, too, just in case."

He grinned back. Either she had the same type of sneaky mind he had, or they'd been together long enough that she was beginning to understand how he thought. There was an unsettling idea. He hoped she didn't know what else he had in mind.

He turned to leave before his face gave him away. At the cabin door, he turned back, however, to give her a smile. "See you later on the bridge," he said.

* * *

Reed attached the tracker in what he hoped was an unobtrusive spot under the pilot's console. Shidak might manage to get his hands on the ship, and he didn't want to take the chance of that happening without having some way to trace it. 

He expected that Hoshi would give Shidak a demonstration of the ship's flight capabilities but still refuse to hand it over. She would be angling for a meeting with the pirate leader, the more private and intimate the better, to carry out her plan. Reed would have to make sure he was along if he was to prevent her from killing him, or vice versa.

He felt as if he was sneaking around behind her back, trying to circumvent her plan to kill Shidak. Well, he was, actually, but admitting it to himself didn't make him feel any better. It was for her own good. That wouldn't mean that she'd be any less angry at him afterward. Provided there was an afterward.

Rousing himself from these thoughts, he found he had been staring at the communications panel. Maybe his subconscious was trying to tell him something. He ought to contact Archer. He might need Enterprise's help soon. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have that ship in a position to assist him in a timely manner.

He quickly composed a transmission and compressed it, mentally crossing his fingers as he sent the burst. As brief as it was, it might be mistaken for random noise by the Klingon on the bridge monitoring communications.

If Hoshi's crew did figure out what it was, well, he'd just have to deal with the consequences. Hoshi needed his help, and Tucker's, too badly to throw them in the brig again.

* * *

"Compressed burst coming in, sir," Shuemaker said from the communications console aboard Enterprise. 

"Transfer it to my ready room," Archer said, standing up from his chair on the bridge. At last, he thought with a measure of relief, some word from Reed.

The message wasn't long. It gave a string of coordinates, followed by a simple statement: Get in position and wait.

Damn! It didn't tell him anything. They'd still be waiting. But at least they'd be moving for the time being, instead of aimlessly patrolling the trade routes.

Pushing a button on the comm panel on his desk, he relayed the coordinates to Mayweather at the helm.


	24. Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

Hoshi was able to hold off a bad case of the shakes until after Malcolm left. When she had left the bridge, she'd had the vague intention of extracting a promise from him not to interfere with her plan to kill Shidak, but the enormity of what was happening hit her about halfway to the cabin.

They'd made contact -- there was no turning back. She was actually going to kill someone.

It was all she could do to sit calmly behind her desk, feeling his eyes on her, and not beg to be taken into his arms, hoping to be soothed like a child. The revulsion he must feel about her planning to become a murderess, no matter what the reason, stopped her. How could he possibly care about her, knowing what she intended to do?

When he'd said he was going to the scout ship, she was relieved. She didn't know if she would be able to bear up under his intense scrutiny for very long.

But she also realized he was going to secrete the tracker somewhere on the scout ship, if he hadn't done so already, and she couldn't help letting him know that she knew. She also figured he'd probably try to send a message to Starfleet, but that was of no consequence. At this point, there was little they could do to stop her.

With a supreme effort, she tried to concentrate on what would happen when they arrived at Shidak's stronghold. She wouldn't let the pirate leader near the scout ship, at least not until she had met him face to face. The hardest part would be acting nice to him. The bastard was responsible for Matthew's death, and the mere thought of being polite to him made her stomach churn.

She'd have to keep herself under control until the opportunity to kill him presented itself. She hoped she did a better job practicing self-control than she had been doing the last few days. It wasn't her Klingon-inspired temper which worried her -- that trait would be in keeping with a leader of rogue Klingon pirates. No, it was the times she had broken down in front of Malcolm, showing her weakness, that could be her undoing.

She didn't know why her moods had been swinging so wildly that the last few days. Until recently, she'd been dead set on following her course of action, not questioning what she was doing, not wondering if it might be wrong.

Of course Malcolm had something to do with it. She'd let herself be distracted by him, and much as she wanted him to be nothing more than a pleasant interlude, she knew in her heart it was growing into something else. It had started out as desire but, at least on her part, it was something more.

Resting her head on her steepled hands, she tried to draw on her inner strength, tried to fight her attraction to Malcolm, tried to fight her...love. When the image of Matthew failed to appear in her mind, she knew she had lost the battle. She was too shocked to cry for either her lost love or the one she was about to lose any chance of having.

* * *

Tucker made a circuit of engineering, looking over the crew's shoulders, checking the monitors himself. They had gotten the engine into as good of shape as they could in the limited time they had. 

He wondered briefly about armaments, even though that wasn't his area of expertise. Surely the Klingons would have said something if the weapons needed work. They were Klingons, for pity's sake. They wouldn't let something like weapons fall into disrepair.

He paused by Malin at the primary warp controls. Clapping the young Klingon on the shoulder, he gave him a grin, and received one in return.

"If anything happens," Tucker reminded him, "you'll have to sing out loud and clear for the rest of the crew to hear ya."

Malin stared at him, and Tucker wondered if he'd said something wrong. Klingons could be touchy sometimes.

"You should issue the orders," Malin said suddenly.

"What?" he said in amazement. "I'm not part of the crew."

Malin very deliberately looked him up and down, and Tucker was acutely aware of the battle armor he was wearing.

"I think you are. The captain herself has said so," the young Klingon told him. "You know more than we do. You will know what is best to do."

"Will the rest of the engineering staff take orders from me?" asked Tucker, rolling the idea of being in charge of an engine room full of Klingons around in his head and not sure if he liked it.

"They will do as you say," Malin said. "I will make sure."

* * *

Kleth was sitting in the captain's chair on the bridge, keeping an eye on everything. He could feel the fire in his blood begin to burn, so close were they to their quarry. 

"Picking up something on long-range scanners," Garef said from the helm.

Kleth stood up and went to stand behind the helmsman, looking at the readout on the console with great interest. They were now close enough to scan the coordinates given to them. It was a planet, the third of four planets in a system around a red giant.

Even more interesting was the structure maintaining a geostationary orbit around the planet. It was a spacedock, and there were three ships cradled in its arms. Two more ships were orbiting the planet.

A hard smile formed on Kleth's face as he considered the possibilities of a glorious fight.

* * *

Reed left the scout ship and almost went back to Hoshi's cabin, but decided against it. There wasn't anything he could say to make her change her mind about killing Shidak, and it was probably best not to distract her with his doubts. 

Instead, he went to the bridge to find Kleth standing next to Garef at the helm. He took up a position on the other side of the helmsman, looking at the readout.

"Five ships,"Reed said.

Kleth looked at him over Garef's head and said, "They might stand a chance against us, but I doubt it."

He was glad Kleth saw it that way, because he didn't. He hoped Enterprise was enroute because he knew they were going to need all the help they could get if they had to fight their way back out.

With a little luck, they mightbe able to get into Shidak's stronghold, grab him, and get out before anyone was the wiser. He wasn't counting on it, though.

When Kleth went to sit in the captain's chair, Reed followed and stood beside him. He may as well remain on the bridge so he could be there when the next transmission came in.

He saw Kleth give him a sideways glance.

"You cannot fool me, little warrior," the Klingon rumbled quietly. "I know you are still following your duty to Starfleet, but remember my charge to you. Her safety supercedes all else. If necessary, you must give your life for hers."

Staring into Kleth's dark eyes, Reed knew he would do exactly as the Klingon said, but not because he was being threatened to do so. He would do it because he wanted to. His mind had no choice in the matter, because his heart had already decided.

His resolve must have shown on his face, because Kleth nodded in satisfaction and sat back in the chair.

* * *

Hoshi couldn't stand the waiting. She sat at her desk for a time, then got up and paced. Her mind kept running around in circles, always coming back to Matthew and Malcolm. She'd lost one, and she was about to lose the other. 

With a muttered curse, she left her cabin and headed for the bridge. At least there she could be distracted by what she was supposed to be worried about -- meeting Shidak.

She wasn't surprised to find Malcolm there. He'd be in the thick of things once they reached Shidak's stronghold, and he was probably just as anxious as she was to get things started.

Kleth got out of her chair as she approached. "Report!" she ordered as she sat down.

"We are still an hour away from the coordinates," the Klingon said. "There are five ships at the third planet in the system. Two heavy cruisers are in orbit. Two freighters are in spacedock, as is another smaller cruiser."

"Patrol ships and a repair facility," she said, marveling at the infrastructure Shidak had put together.

"We won't have to worry about the freighters. They aren't equipped to fight," Malcolm said. "The two heavy cruisers in orbit, however..."

As his voice trailed off, she looked at him coldly. "The Falcon can take care of them, if necessary."

A beep from the communications console sounded, and the Klingon manning that station turned to her. "Incoming transmission. Visual this time."

Composing her face into a hard mask, Hoshi fixed her eyes on the screen. "Put it on."


	25. Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

The image on the bridge viewscreen crackled before solidifying. A dark-haired Human male peered out from the screen at them but did not speak. His gaze rested speculatively on Hoshi sitting in the captain's chair.

Hoshi let him stare. She wasn't about to speak first, weakening her position. She would let him ask the first question. But she did let a small smile flit across her lips, giving the impression that she was relaxed and confident in her position, and enjoying being looked at.

After an eternity, the man spoke. "Captain Sato?" His voice was a pleasant baritone, and he said her name as if it were a verbal caress.

Hoshi slowly inclined her head, closing her eyes as she did so, then opening them as she raised her head.

"Forgive me for contacting you before you entered orbit," the man said calmly and without a hint of sincerity. "But when I was informed that the captain of the approaching warbird was a female, I was intrigued, especially since the name given was not a Klingon one, but of Earth ancestry."

"I am Human, if that is what you are wondering," Hoshi said in a sultry voice, consenting to speak at last. Deliberately hardening her tone, she added, "Most of my crew, however, are Klingon."

She rose from the chair and took a step closer to the screen, inspecting the man on the screen. Tall, dark hair, broad shoulders like Matthew's... She felt a growl vibrate in her chest as she stared at him. How dare he resemble Matthew, even superficially!

"I'm sorry. I haven't formally introduced myself," the man said. "I'm Shidak."

Hoshi turned her back on him and returned to her chair. Seated, she glanced at the readout on her chair's arm panel. Looking up at Shidak, she said, "We will assume orbit in 47 minutes. I expect to be met in person."

A smile that combined both anticipation and greed blossomed on Shidak's face. "Until then," he said.

Hoshi snapped a command at the communications officer and the connection was cut.

* * *

Reed, standing behind Hoshi's chair, heard her growl as she stared at the man on the screen, and could feel the anger emanating from her like waves on the ocean. 

He was also aware of the strange chemistry that ran between the two as they talked. She hated Shidak, but Shidak was fascinated by her. He felt a growl of his own reverberate in his throat.

If Shidak was attracted to Hoshi, it was going to be even harder to protect her. He shot a glance at Kleth only to find the Klingon staring back at him, a knowing look on his face. Kleth was observant, Reed knew, and not only had he picked up on the nuances in the conversation between Shidak and Hoshi, he had seen Reed's reaction to it.

Kleth turned to address Hoshi as soon at the communication ended. "Your orders, my mistress?" he asked.

"We will continue on course to the planet. We should receive further instructions as soon as we enter orbit." With a wicked smile she said, "I made it clear I do not wish to wait."

Reed heard Kleth's answering rumble of low laughter before she continued, "I want you, Garef, Reed, and Tucker to accompany me to wherever it is we will meet that son of a targ."

She spun the chair around toward Reed. "If you have any special 'spy' weapons, I suggest you arm yourself with them," she told him.

"Already anticipated," he said, pausing before adding with a slight bow of his head, "my mistress."

He saw Hoshi's eyes open a fraction wider at the use of the honorific expression for a Klingon female leader. That he had used it in front of a bridge full of Klingons had surprised her. What she didn't know was that he was using it as a symbol of his claim on her.

* * *

"You want me to go with ya? What for?" Tucker was hurrying alongside Reed as they made their way to the transporter. 

"It was her idea," Reed said, "but I'll feel better having you there. I need somebody to watch my back."

"Watch your back?" Tucker repeated in astonishment. "I'm an engineer, not a...a... What about Kleth? He'd be much better at that kind of thing."

"He's going, but you're going, too."

Reed stopped walking as they came to a corner in the corridor. Clasping Tucker's arm and pulling him closer so as not to talk any louder than necessary, he threw a quick look around the corner at the transporter at the far end of the corridor. "I don't think it's a good idea for us to be split up," he said as he pulled his head back.

"What about the scout ship?" Tucker asked, putting out his arm to stop Reed when he started to move away.

"When it's time for a demonstration, we'll all come back to the ship," Reed said. "I'll insist upon it. No one thought to ask for the access codes, and we're the only ones who can pilot it."

Reed glanced impatiently toward the transporter, where Hoshi, Kleth and Garef waited for them, along with Malin who would operate the device. "Come on," he hissed.

With a resigned sigh, Tucker followed him. "If I woulda known, I woulda checked this thing out first."

"They've been using it a lot longer than Starfleet has," Reed said. "Kleth says they've never lost anybody."

"Where have you been?" Hoshi asked sharply, climbing onto the transporter pad as they approached. "We received the beam-down coordinates ten minutes ago."

When Reed didn't say anything, Tucker said, "Sorry. Had a few things to take care of in engineering."

Kleth and Garef followed Hoshi onto the platform, as did Reed, who took up a position to her right.

"Well?" she said, glaring at Tucker who was standing on the step at the bottom.

The engineer threw a glance at Malin at the controls, crossed his fingers, and stepped up onto the platform.

Immediately the transporter beam engulfed the group.

* * *

The beam-down point wasn't much better lit than the dim corridors of the warbird. Smoking torches lined the walls of a circular room with stone walls. The transporter platform and the control console looked out of place in the medieval setting. 

The effect was more appropriate for knights of feudal times than it was for pirates, Hoshi thought, and wondered if Shidak was a student of Earth history who hadn't learned his lessons very well.

As far as her teaching him a lesson, she'd have to wait. He was too well guarded, she saw, and not exactly trusting. A handful of rough-looking men armed with a variety of hand weapons were ranged around the room, standing in defensive positions.

Another two men were by the console, one apparently the transporter operator, the other the man they had seen on the Falcon's viewscreen. Her pulse raced as she recognized Shidak, and she had to force herself not to leap off the platform, take his neck between her hands, and strangle the life out of him.

"Captain Sato! Welcome!" Shidak said as he stepped forward, his hands outstretched, to greet her.

She was aware of Kleth on her left and Malcolm on her right stepping forward as she stepped down from the platform. They took up stances on either side of her. Both, she could see out of the corners of her eyes, were focused intently on Shidak.

Shidak wasn't unaware of their movement, and took a moment to glance at them as he lowered his arms before speaking to her. "Really, my dear. This is unnecessary. No harm will come to you here."

Kleth issued a low growl, sneering at the man, and Hoshi could feel Malcolm tense on the other side of her. She looked up at Shidak, who was a good head taller than she. "They serve me, and they are doing their duty," she said coldly.

Sidak gazed at her speculatively. "What have you done to inspire such loyalty?" he asked, and she could hear the lascivious implication in his voice.

If she hadn't already hated the man, his manner would have easily led her to do so. It would be best to get to what Shidak believed drew her here.

"Are we to do our negotiations here in a waiting area?" she asked contemptuously.

"No," the pirate leader replied. "Come with me to a more comfortable place." His gaze raked over her entourage and he added, "They may wait here for you."

"No," she said, looking him straight in the eye and daring him to contradict her.

"No?"

Looking around at Shidak's men, who had yet to relax their stances, she pretended to be considering. Letting out a loud sigh, she said, "Very well. Two will remain here. Two will accompany me. That should be more than enough," she added.

Shidak stared at her, then burst out laughing. "Either your men are the best killers in the galaxy, or you have a very inflated opinion of their abilities."

Kleth growled again, his hand going to the knife at his waist. On her other side, Reed's hand was resting on the disruptor slung low on his hip.

Hoshi saw Shidak's gaze follow the Klingon's movement and laughed inwardly. Kleth could probably dispatch the entire room of men without raising a sweat. From the look on Shidak's face, he was coming to the same conclusion.

"Perhaps you're right," Shidak admitted, his earlier, false convivial attitude evaporating. "Follow me."

Turning abruptly, he strode for the open door, leaving Hoshi no choice but to follow. Kleth and Malcolm fell into step behind her, with several of Shidak's men behind them.

They marched down a hall, the walls made of the same stone as in the transporter chamber, torches hanging in brackets at intervals. She slowed her steps enough for Malcolm to catch up to her side.

"I have to get Shidak away from his men," she said in a low voice.

"Don't do anything stupid," he cautioned her.

She laughed harshly at that, playing her role as a Klingon pirate captain, and reached out to caress his cheek possessively as a female Klingon leader might with a favored consort. She saw Shidak, who had turned to look over his shoulder at them, register the gesture, and saw a hardness come into his eyes. Let him think what he wants, Hoshi thought recklessly. As far as she was concerned, a little jealously might make her task easier.

And she couldn't deny that she wanted to touch Malcolm, even in the most dangerous situation she had ever been in. With him walking beside her now, she could feel his presence bolstering her strength and her resolve.

She would see this through, no matter what it took.


	26. Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26

Shidak showed them into a large room off the main corridor. The lighting was better, Reed saw, taking in the dark paneling and heavy wooden furniture. There were no windows, and he hadn't seen any in the hall, either. But there were several tapestries hanging down, and they could provide a convenient cover for doors or other things.

Hoshi sauntered into the room as if she lived there and sat down in a chair at the head of a long table in the middle of the room. Her eyes reflected the glitter of the flames from a large candelabrum centered on the table. At Shidak's amused chuckle, she gestured magnanimously toward the chair next to her, and he seated himself.

Kleth had followed Hoshi, remaining at her left side and a little behind her as she sat down, just as if they were on the bridge of the Falcon. Reed stopped just inside and to one side of the door, intending to watch the proceedings from a distance. Besides, it would be best not to be grouped together. That would only make it easier to subdue all of them, if that was what Shidak had in mind.

One of Shidak's men stood across the doorway from Reed, and another moved into the room to stand a few feet behind his boss.

A servant carrying a tray hurried in through the door. A large decanter was balanced in the middle of the tray, and two glasses were on one side.

"Very good," Shidak said as the servant put the glasses and the decanter on the table. "You may leave. I will call if we need anything else."

With a quick bow, the servant turned and left. Reed took a good look at the man as he scurried out, the tray tucked under his arm. Floppy jowls, long earlobes, heavy eyebrows. Not a species he recognized.

At the table, Shidak was taking the stopper out of the decanter as he talked to Hoshi, and Reed shifted his attention back to them.

"I must say you are the loveliest captain who has ever come to visit me," Shidak said.

Hoshi gave him an unpleasant smile. "I did not come here to discuss my appearance."

"I'm sure you didn't," he replied, handing her one of the glasses into which he poured a generous amount of the liquid. "It is an added bonus for me."

He filled his glass, then held it toward her as if to clink their glasses together, but Hoshi pulled hers back.

"You don't like me," he said in mock hurt.

"Should I?" she countered.

"I think we could become good friends eventually."

Reed saw Hoshi's chest rise as she drew in a deep breath, and knew it must be taking all her control not to reach over and throttle the man. Her murderous glare was visible all the way across the room.

"Really, my dear," Shidak purred, not put off by her demeanor. "We should be able to help each other." As he leaned back in his chair, his voice took on a businesslike tone. "I understand you have something for me."

"That depends. What do you have to offer me?" she asked.

"You know what I have to offer, otherwise you wouldn't be here," he shot back. "Information. All the information you could ever possibly want or even need."

Hoshi inclined her head toward him slightly, conceding the point to him. Setting down her glass, she leaned back in her chair, emulating his relaxed attitude.

"What I have will make you the most powerful man in the quadrant," she said.

"And what exactly is that?"

"A Starfleet ship that can reach unheard of speeds," she replied evenly.

Reed watched as the two locked gazes, and felt both jealousy and protectiveness recklessly urging him to step in. What he wanted most, and it didn't matter whether it was out of jealousy or protectiveness, was to wipe the floor with Shidak.

He wished she'd be a little less forward, less forceful, less...sexy. Damn it! Now Shidak was reaching out to touch her hand where it lay on the armrest of her chair.

"I would be very interested in that," Shidak said softly as he stroked the back of Hoshi's hand. "What would you expect in return?"

"The same as the rest of your pirate captains," she said coldly, withdrawing her hand. "Information about shipping schedules, such as when and where valuable cargo will be coming through."

She paused for a long moment as they continued to gaze at each other. Hoshi finally looked away, as if what she was about to say was a great disappointment to her. "I cannot fully utilize the engine. One ship, eventually, would be caught, no matter how fast it can fly. Besides, my engineers are not quite certain how it works. That is why I offer it to you."

A noise distracted Reed, and he saw the servant scurry back into the room and hurry to Shidak's side. He passed a piece of paper to the pirate leader, bowed quickly, and left again.

Shidak opened the note, holding it close to his chest, and read it. No discernible change came over his features, but his next words indicated that something had come up that required his immediate attention.

"I must go," he said, crumpling up the piece of paper.

Hoshi raised an eyebrow in response, and Shidak favored her with a smile.

"Don't worry, my dear. Our negotiations haven't finished. It would be best if you returned to your ship until I have taken care of this matter."

He waved his men to the door. "They will take you back to the transporter."

Reed saw Hoshi shoot him a glance. She didn't want to leave, not when she was this close to her objective, but she had no say in the matter. Shidak's men were lined up, ready to escort them out of the room, their hands on the handles of their holstered weapons.

Hoshi rose from her chair, and Shidak did the same.

She gave him an insolent stare. "Don't keep me waiting too long," she warned him.

"This won't take long at all," he assured her.

Hoshi turned and marched to the door, Kleth on her heels. She didn't glance at Reed as she passed him. He fell in behind the big Klingon, and the group walked at a quick pace back to the transporter, leaving Shidak alone in the room.

Tucker and Garef were already on the platform when they entered, and Tucker gave him a worried look. "Something's goin' on," he whispered as Reed climbed up onto the platform.

Reed only had time to look back over his shoulder at the engineer before he heard the familiar sound of the transporter.

Something was wrong. As he watched, Kleth, Tucker and Garef dematerialized, but he and Hoshi were still on the pad. As he brought his hand to the disruptor at his hip, Shidak's men rushed the platform, their guns out and pointed at them. He carefully moved his hand away from his own gun.

"What is the meaning of this?" Hoshi demanded angrily.

She was answered by Shidak, who walked into the chamber. "Just the first of my many services for you, Captain Sato," he said.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

Shidak strolled toward them as if he had all the time in the world. "I'm attending to a problem that came up, as well as arranging for you and I to negotiate without your watchdogs around."

Reed shifted uneasily on the platform. There was no way to get Hoshi safely out of this situation. If Kleth had still been there, it might have been possible.

And why had he been left behind with her? His unvoiced question was answered by Shidak's next words.

"You have a spy in your crew. This man," the pirate leader said, pointing at Reed, "works for Starfleet. In the anti-piracy division, to be exact."

Reed looked to Hoshi, who was looking back at him with wide eyes. She turned to glare down at Shidak. "Can you prove this?" she asked.

Reed silently gave thanks that she was taking that angle. She should be suspicious of Shidak, yet act as if it could be a possibility that he was a spy, if she wanted to remain somewhat free to move about. If Shidak knew he was an undercover agent, Hoshi had to distance herself from him.

"I have inside sources at Starfleet," Shidak said. "Suffice it to say, I can get you all the proof you desire."

"I wish to see this evidence," she said haughtily, stepping down from the platform.

"Come with me and you will," Shidak said. He glanced at one of his men and ordered, "Lock this imposter up."

Reed's last sight as he was dragged away was of Hoshi lightly laying her arm on Shidak's, giving him a sultry smile. That's when he began to resist his captors. One of them hit him on the head with the butt of his gun, and he saw no more.


	27. Chapter 27

Author's Note: For those of you who might be wondering, there are a total of 36 chapters to this story. It was one of those that originally was going to be, oh, maybe 10 chapters long, and it took on a life of its own. See whathappens when you don't follow your outline?

CHAPTER 27

Hoshi watched in a daze as Malcolm was dragged off by two of Shidak's guards. There was nothing she could do, not now, not without jeopardizing her own precarious position. She was lucky as it was that Shidak hadn't assumed that she was working in league with Malcolm, and therefore Starfleet.

"I must contact my ship," she said with a confidence she didn't feel. "Kleth will start attacking everything in orbit if he thinks I am in danger."

At least she hoped she wasn't in danger. Shidak hadn't done anything yet to prove otherwise.

Shidak continued to hold her arm, almost politely, as one might to lead a guest to the best seat in the house. Gazing down at her, he smiled, and she fought back a shudder of revulsion. The man responsible for Matthew's death, and who had hurt Malcolm, was touching her.

"Contact your ship," he told her. "We mustn't let that hawk of yours loose among the chickens."

Now he's using mixed metaphors, she thought sarcastically. The man was the biggest mix of contradictions and stereotypes she had ever seen, down to the clothing he wore. If the loose-fitting shirt with billowy sleeves, along with the skin-tight pants and knee-high boots, didn't scream pirate, she was blind.

Hoshi reached into a pocket in her breastplate and pulled out her communicator. Her hail was immediately answered.

"Mistress! That son of a targ! I will kill him!" she heard Kleth rage.

"Calm down, Kleth," she said loudly enough for Shidak to hear. "He was only protecting me in his own fashion."

She could practically hear the puzzlement coming from Kleth over the open channel, even though he didn't speak. He was smart -- he knew better than to ask leading questions when others might be listening.

"Shidak says he's found evidence that Reed is a Starfleet agent," she told him calmly.

"Why did he beam the rest of us away?"

Hoshi looked at Shidak, raising her eyebrow, indicating he should answer.

"With your permission?" Shidak asked, reaching for the communicator which Hoshi handed over to him.

"Kleth, I have talked to you before," he said in perfect Klingon.

An answering growl came over the communicator.

"Now, now, Kleth," Shidak said. "I would like you...and your mistress...to join my privileged little group."

Hoshi breathed a silent sigh of relief at his comment. A frown furrowed her brow, though, as she realized she would have to figure out some way to save Malcolm. She wanted Shidak dead, but she realized she wanted Malcolm alive even more. Some time over the last few days, her priorities had shifted without her being aware of it. She had loved Matthew deeply, but Malcolm was now more important to her.

Meanwhile, the one-side conversation between Shidak and Kleth continued.

"Your captain is my guest, Kleth," Shidak said. "No harm will come to her while she is under my protection."

Hoshi recognized the formal words. She had been right in thinking that Shidak knew something of Klingon culture. He was informing Kleth that he was taking responsibility for her. In any other setting, it would have been merely a chivalrous gesture. When dealing with Klingons, however, the formality was as binding as a written contract.

She could tell by his growl that Kleth didn't want to accept Shidak's offer, but there was little he could do about it. He was on the ship, and she was down here with her husband's murderer.

Intellectually, she knew Shidak hadn't pulled the trigger of the disruptor that had killed Matthew. But without his backing, the pirates wouldn't have taken on one of H-S Shipping's freighters. In her mind, that was all the connection she needed to hold him responsible.

Shidak shut the communicator and handed it back. His gaze roamed up and down her, making her feel dirty. If she'd known she'd have to endure this, she would have blown the planet up instead. She latched onto that irritation and tried to fan it into something stronger.

"Let's go somewhere more comfortable," he suggested, offering her his arm.

She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from spitting in his face, and carefully placed her hand in the crook of his arm. She felt the bile rise in her throat as he smiled down at her and patted her hand. She hoped he mistook the gleam in her eyes for something other than the lust for revenge she was feeling.

A few minutes later, she was ensconced on a comfortable couch in the middle of another room. This one was decorated more softly, with chairs and couches upholstered in velvet, and lace cloths were on small tables scattered artfully about the room. Soft lighting came from several shaded lamps. The only harsh note was a pair of crossed swords over a fireplace.

Shidak followed her gaze to the swords and chuckled softly. He moved to stand behind where she was sitting on the couch, close enough that she could feel his presence and be repelled by it. Fighting an urge to jump up, she forced herself to say calmly, "Swords usually don't engender mirth."

"Oh, but these do," he said. He ran a fingertip along her shoulder, touching her bare neck. "There's an interesting story associated with those swords."

She couldn't help it -- a growl escaped her at his touch. Instead of making Shidak back off, however, it seemed to encourage him and she heard him chuckle again as he lightly squeezed her shoulder before removing his hand.

"Don't you want to hear the story?" he asked, coming around the couch to sit down on it beside her.

"If you insist," she said, thinking it would be a good way to keep from talking about Malcolm until she figured out how she was going to help him.

"Oh, I do," he replied, settling more comfortably. "The story of how I came by those swords explains a great deal about me."

She had already figured out Shidak was incredibly egotistical. The fact that he was offering to talk about himself only reinforced her opinion. But she would listen attentively anyway -- the story might reveal a weakness about him.

The same servant who had brought them the liquor earlier came through the open door before Shidak could begin his story. This time, the servant wasn't carrying anything, and he stopped just inside the door.

"Ah, good," Shidak said. "Bring us something to drink. Something better than that swill you brought last time."

The servant bowed slightly and left, leaving the door open. Hoshi caught glimpses of other men in the hall, some of whom had been in the transporter room. They must be coming back from taking Malcolm to wherever he was being held. It couldn't be too far away since they had returned so quickly.

She wondered if Malcolm had been badly hurt, but didn't have time to dwell on that thought as Shidak was speaking to her again.

"When I first started down the path that led me to where I am now," he was saying, "I had an encounter with some Klingon renegades."

At her sharpened interest, he said, "No, not your renegades, dear. This was some time in the past..."

His rambling tale went on...and on...and on. Every point that could be embellished to make him seem more important, more daring, more intelligent than his adversaries was emphasized. The whole story could have been summed up in as little as two sentences, Hoshi thought sourly -- Shidak was a thief who had had stolen a Klingon cruiser and embarked on a life of piracy. Because of his ruthlessness as well as luck, he'd been successful.

The servant finally came back, interrupting Shidak's droning voice, much to Hoshi's relief. She was getting tired of keeping a polite smile plastered on her face as she listened to him.

"Much better," Shidak said, picking up the bottle from where the servant had placed it on a low table in front of them. "This is a much smoother drink, more in keeping with your refined elegance."

Hoshi almost snorted at that. She was dressed in her usual Klingon battle armor, all hard points and edges, and he was calling her refined? She caressed the hidden knife sheathed on her thigh under a fold of the outfit. Soon she would get to use it.

When the servant left, she was alone with Shidak, but he was still too attentive for her to act.

He filled the two glasses and handed her one. Picking up his own, he considered her a moment. "Should we toast to our future together?"

The man was such a slimeball! She hadn't given him the slightest hint she was interested in him. Maybe he was one of those men who was turned on by rejection.

She wasn't about to toast to anything with him, in any case, much less what was left of his future. "You haven't told me about the swords," she reminded him, trying to change the subject.

"The swords," he repeated. "They were in the captain's cabin aboard the cruiser. They became mine when I killed him."

She sucked in her breath, and he heard her. "Are you shocked?" he asked. "You shouldn't be, you know. You command a Klingon warbird. Rising through the ranks by assassination is a common practice among Klingons, as you must know."

Taking her glass from her, he put it on the table. "You haven't told me how you came to be in command," he said.

"It was my husband's ship," she said.

"Was?"

"He's dead."

"He must have been some Klingon to have captured your heart," Shidak said, inching closer to her.

So he thought her husband had been a Klingon. While he might know a lot about Klingons, he didn't know much about her crew, and obviously less about loyalty. She wasn't about to tell him anything about Matthew or any of her crew.

"Klingons can be...rough," he said softly, leaning toward her, his eyes on her lips. "Perhaps you're ready for someone from your own species who can be gentler than what you've been accustomed to recently."

She felt like a rabbit caught in the stare of a predator as he slowly encroached on her space. She put up a hand to stop him, and he grasped it firmly and quickly, yanking her arm to one side.

"Or," he said, and she saw a hardness come into his eyes, "I can be just as rough as you want."

He abruptly brought his head down, his lips latching onto hers viciously. He pinned her to the couch with his body as she fought against him, trying to push him off, to no avail. He was too much bigger than she was. She realized her struggles were only exciting him more. He began to grind his groin against her, and she could feel his arousal growing.

As one of his hands began to loosen the lacings at the side of her breastplate, she reached down to her thigh, fumbling for the knife. She found the handle and slid it quickly from its sheath, but his hand that had been working to free her from her clothing came down to clamp around her wrist.

"You are a little Klingon, aren't you?" he said harshly, tightening his grip and causing her to drop the knife.

Her action with the knife had distracted him, however, and she was able to slide her leg farther under him, bringing it up with a quick jerk.

Shidak immediately rolled off her onto the floor, and she sprung up. He had fallen on the knife, effectively keeping it from her, so she ran for the swords on the wall. She had just pulled one free from its brackets and turned around when he stood up. Still hunched over, he regarded her with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"I could call my men in here to subdue you," he said in a harsh whisper, "but I'm going to enjoy taming you."

Hoshi held the sword out in front of her as he straightened up. She could see her knife in his hand. If he was planning on hand-to-hand combat, she had the advantage of the longer blade. She could cut him to pieces before he could even touch her.

She was surprised, then, when Shidak flipped the knife to hold it by the blade -- and threw it at her.

The pain didn't start until she looked down and saw the knife embedded in her shoulder, blood seeping out around the edges of the blade as she slowly collapsed to the floor.


	28. Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

Reed regained consciousness in a dank stone cell. He was lying facedown, and his cheek was abraded from where he had rubbed it against the cold, hard floor as he had come around.

His head throbbed as he rolled over onto his back. He remembered being hit with something as he had struggled when he'd seen Shidak begin to paw Hoshi.

He slowly sat up, holding one hand to the back of his head. There was a large, tender lump there. He was lucky his skull hadn't been fractured.

The only light in the cell came through a small window at eye-level on the door, casting a rectangle of illumination on the floor a few feet away from him. Glancing around, moving only his eyes and not his head, he was able to make out a low, wide ledge along the wall opposite the door. The pirates hadn't bothered to put him there. They had just dragged him into the cell and dropped him.

He crawled over to the ledge and pulled himself up on it. He sat with his head between his knees until what little he could see stopped spinning. How the bloody hell was he going to get out of this?

And what was happening to Hoshi? Some protector he had been, he thought derisively. From what he had seen before being put out of commission, she was handling herself a lot better than he had. He hadn't done anything except wait around to get captured.

He winced involuntarily as he leaned his head back against the wall, the bump registering its presence when it made contact with the hard surface.

He checked his pockets and found nothing. They'd searched him before throwing him in the cell and had taken everything -- his communicator, extra knife, several small concussion grenades, even the strand of high-tensile wire. They'd left the empty holster attached to his hip like an insult after removing the disruptor.

He didn't even have an idea of how long he'd been unconscious. For all he knew, Hoshi could have made her move and been killed by now. But it would make no sense that, if she had attempted something, he'd still be alive, sitting alone in this cell. Surely the pirates would have come to kill him if that had happened.

Reed had come to the conclusion that he would remain alive only so long as Hoshi did when he heard the sound of footsteps coming down the corridor. Maybe his time was up and they were coming to finish the job.

He remained seated as, to judge by the sound of the footsteps, several people approached the door. The light from the door's window was momentarily blocked and he heard the rattling of keys. What an anachronism, he thought. Shidak was a modern-day pirate sailing not the high seas but the space lanes, and he still kept his prisoners locked up in a dungeon complete with padlocks and chains.

The door was thrown open and, squinting against the glare from the hallway, he could make out several of Shidak's men. His attention was drawn immediately to the smaller disheveled figure in their midst. She was being held up by one of the men who had a grip on her upper arm. Otherwise, she might have fallen down, he saw, taking in the blood-soaked bandage around her other shoulder.

He stood up quickly as she was shoved, momentum taking her halfway across the cell before her legs gave out. Reed only had time to glance up at the sound of the door being slammed shut before catching her as she fell.

"Hoshi!" he said, cradling her gently as he eased her over onto the ledge. "Hoshi? Damn it! Talk to me!"

"You don't have to shout," she said softly, grimacing as she moved her injured shoulder.

"What happened?" he asked more softly, the relief he felt at her response showing in his voice.

"That bastard threw my own knife at me," she said.

"What? Why would he do that?"

"Probably because I was holding a sword on him at the time," she replied, gingerly trying to sit up.

Reed helped support her until her back was against the wall. When she was as comfortable as possible, he sat next to her and picked up her hand to hold in his.

He listened to her ragged breathing for a few moments, worried about how badly she had been hurt. Some of that worry came out in an accusation. "I told you not to do anything stupid," he said.

He was startled when she started to laugh, but it was cut off short by a gasp at the pain in her shoulder. "I wouldn't call defending my honor stupid," she said through gritted teeth.

Reed's voice was deadly calm as he tried to inspect the wound without removing too much of the bandaging. "What did he do?"

He felt Hoshi shiver before she answered. "He tried to rape me."

For the first time since being surrounded by Klingons, Reed truly knew what blood rage felt like. His vision narrowed to pinpricks, and in his mind's eye he could see the object of his rage -- Shidak -- disemboweled with his own knife.

He realized Hoshi must have picked up on some of what he was thinking when she squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"I said he _tried _to rape me. He didn't succeed." She laughed again, this time more softly. "One more reason to kill him," she said.

"I know that's supposed to be your objective," Reed said, "but I think it's now become mine."

He heard her quiet gasp and felt her try to turn toward him in the darkness. "You can't--"

"Yes, I can," he said with conviction.

"No, you can't," she said more strongly.

"Why not?"

"Because..." Her voice trailed off.

"Why not, Hoshi?" he asked again.

"Because I won't have you kill because of me," she said whispered. "It's bad enough that I'm going to commit murder, but I won't have someone else do it in my place."

He tried to see her face in the darkness, but it was only a pale blur. He couldn't see her eyes, other than the glitter of the light from the door's window reflected in them. Reaching out, he held her face between his hands.

"Hoshi, you loved Matthew so much that you are willing to kill to avenge him. Is it so hard for you to believe that I am willing to kill to save you?"

He heard her quick intake of breath, then felt a drop of moisture on one of his fingers on her cheek.

"Are you crying?" he asked.

He felt her nod, and he quickly slid his hands down behind her back, careful of her injured shoulder. "You don't know what it's been like, sitting here in the dark, not knowing what's happened to you," he said as he very gently rocked her.

"I...I didn't realize you cared so much," she said quietly against his shoulder.

"I do, you little idiot," he said. "I've done everything but say it."

"Say what?"

He paused, preparing himself to take the plunge. "I love you."

He felt her body begin to shake and wondered if he had upset her with his declaration. Then he realized she was laughing. She was laughing? Bloody hell! Was she becoming hysterical?

"I can't believe you're laughing," he said in mock sternness. "I've never had a woman laugh before when I've told her I've loved her."

"Oh?" Hoshi managed to get out. "Have you told a lot of women that?"

"Well, actually, no," he admitted. "Just you. ... So why are you laughing?"

"Because," she said, "after they took you away, I realized it was more important to me to make sure you were safe than it was to kill Shidak."

"I take it that's your rather convoluted way of saying you care about me," he said, trying for a light tone but tensing for her rejection.

"You're an idiot, too," he heard her say in the darkness close to his ear as snuggled closer to him. "I love you, too."


	29. Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

"Your captain is resting and does not wish to be disturbed," Shidak's voice said over the speaker on the bridge of the Falcon.

Kleth was angry. He knew something was wrong, otherwise his captain, and not this misbegotten son of a targ, would be speaking to him. But he was stuck and he knew it.

He took some small measure of comfort -- very small as he was a Klingon and did not allow himself much -- that Ma'Com was still with her. Even though Shidak had kept Ma'Com behind with the captain and both were being held, he had charged the little warrior with her safety. Kleth was certain he would keep her safe --or die trying.

Falcon was still orbiting the planet that housed Shidak's stronghold. The two heavy cruisers also in orbit had been joined by the lighter one which had left the spacedock and taken up a position to the rear of the Falcon.

He could begin a fight, but he decided to try to force Shidak's hand instead. "One hour, Shidak," he said. "If I do not hear from my captain by then, we will destroy your ships and your spacedock."

"Is that a threat?" came Shidak's voice, both silky and dangerous at the same time.

"No, it is a fact," Kleth said. "You know Klingons well enough to know that it is not a bluff."

The connection was cut on Shidak's end, and Kleth let out the bellow of frustration he'd been holding back.

"We should attack now," Garef said angrily from his post at the helm.

"I gave him an hour," Kleth said. "Make continuous scans of the other vessels." He paused, adding with a ferocious grin, "You may fire if they power up their weapons."

* * *

The Klingons in the Falcon's engineering room were busy locking down everything that could break loose in the event of a battle. 

"Ya expectin' us to fight?" Tucker asked Malin as they watched the preparations.

"Klingons always expect a fight," Malin said matter-of-factly. He looked at Tucker's grim expression and added, "Do not worry. We will get the captain and Ma'Com back, or we will die trying."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Tucker said dryly.

* * *

Shidak tossed back the drink and took pleasure in the burning sensation as he swallowed it. Why had the bitch tried to kill him? Surely she had expected what he was going to do. Why else had she come along so willingly after he'd beamed her men back to her ship? 

She had looked so beautiful as she defied him, her chest heaving as she held the sword in front of her, her hair in disarray. The Klingon outfit she was wearing only enhanced her beauty.

A pity he'd had to hurt her. Perhaps now she'd be more tractable.

That big ugly Klingon, Kleth, was going to be a problem, though. He was demanding to know that his captain was all right. Shidak knew enough about Klingons to understand that, unlikely as it seemed, Kleth could make good his claim to take out all three of his ships as well as the spacedock.

Even if Kleth didn't destroy everything, the damage could be severe enough to be a giant setback in his operation. The spacedock was necessary, and had to be protected, else he wouldn't be able to alter the stolen freighters as quickly. He'd have to depend on outside sources, and outside sources weren't always reliable or discreet. They also tended to want a cut of the profits.

He hadn't even begun to look into the aspect of a Starfleet operative being in her crew, or the fantastic new engine she claimed was installed in the small vessel in the Falcon's docking bay. It was possible she didn't know the true nature of her man, but he had seen the look they'd exchanged shortly after arriving on his planet. She was attached to the 'fleeter, and he could use that to get her to do what he wanted.

No sense in appearing anxious. He'd wait until Kleth's hour was almost up. Then he'd contact the Klingon, and force the woman to reassure him and send down the small ship with the innovative engine. He had no doubt she'd be cooperative once she realized her lover's throat would be slit right in front of her if she didn't.

Then, when that was settled, he'd offer to keep the woman or, if necessary, kill her, and turn the Falcon over to Kleth in exchange for the Klingon's loyalty.

* * *

Hoshi had been shivering for a long time. She had fallen into a light sleep, but Reed was worried. He believed her shivering had more to do with the amount of blood she had lost than the temperature of the chilly cell. 

They were sitting side by side on the ledge, her head resting on his shoulder with his arm behind her, holding her close. He reached up with his free hand to feel her brow and was relieved not to feel an excessive amount of heat. At least she wasn't running a fever, which would have been a sure sign of infection.

Despite the almost non-existent lighting in the cell, Reed could tell that her wound had stopped bleeding. Before she had fallen asleep, he had removed the saturated bandage and replaced it with the sleeves he'd torn from his undershirt. At the time, the wound had been oozing blood, but none had soaked through the new bandage he'd put in place.

Knowing full well he was in no position to demand anything, he resolved to demand medical attention for her the next time someone came to their cell. Whenever that might be, he told himself, holding her closer.

* * *

Archer stood next to Mayweather as the helmsman kept Enterprise hidden behind the fourth planet in the system. 

"Have they detected us?" Archer asked.

"I don't think so, sir," Mayweather replied.

From the communications console, Shuemaker spoke up. "There's no indication on their comm traffic that they have, sir. They seem to be more concerned with the Klingon warbird in orbit around the planet."

That made sense, Archer thought. That was the ship Reed and Tucker were supposed to be on. The warbird was the newcomer in the group of ships orbiting the planet. He'd have to assume all of them were hostile, even the Falcon, until he knew for sure.

"Your orders?" T'Pol asked from the tactical console.

"Continue to monitor the situation," Archer said. "It's not time to make a move yet."

"When will that be?" the Vulcan asked with her usual bluntness.

"I don't know," Archer said truthfully. "I just hope we recognize it when it happens."

* * *

Hoshi kept slipping in and out of sleep. When she would wake, it would take a few moments before she'd realize where she was, and that it was Malcolm holding her, not Matthew. 

She'd screwed this up royally, she thought groggily. She had hoped to get in, kill Shidak, and get out. Now she and Malcolm were freezing in some dungeon in Shidak's stronghold, and both of them were injured.

She'd heard Malcolm's unsteadiness as he'd shuffled over to the door to look out the window the one time he'd gotten up. He was probably dizzy from that blow to the head. She hoped he didn't have a concussion.

She wasn't going to be much use getting them out of there. She was going to have to rely on Malcolm's strength to do that. She whispered a prayer that he would be all right.

Her mumbling attracted his attention, and as he shifted to hold her more comfortably, she let herself drift off to sleep once again.


	30. Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

The door flew open and Reed held up a hand to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness. His other arm he kept firmly around Hoshi where she leaned against his side.

"Get up!" one of the three men in the hall ordered. "Shidak wants to see you."

"I'm not leaving her," Reed said.

The man laughed scornfully. "Her, too, lover boy. The boss wants to see both of you."

Reed gently shook Hoshi, trying to wake her, and became alarmed when she failed to respond.

"Get her up!" the man at the door repeated.

"I'm trying!" Reed said. "She's lost too much blood. I think she's passed out."

As the men in the hall muttered to each other, Reed barely heard Hoshi's strained whisper. "I'm awake."

"Are you OK?" he whispered back.

"Faking it," she whispered. "Might be able to surprise Shidak. Besides, it's nice on this side of my eyelids."

"Pick her up and get going!" the pirate ordered.

Sliding his arms under her limp form, he carefully lifted her. Thankfully, his earlier dizziness seemed to have passed and he had no trouble carrying her out of the cell and into the hall.

As his eyes adjusted to the brighter light, he glanced down at Hoshi's injured shoulder. No blood was showing through the wrappings he'd put on, but she was acting strangely. Or rather, she wasn't acting. She was just limp in his arms, and doing a darn good job of it, too.

He was led down the hall and up a flight of stairs, emerging in the same corridor as the room where Shidak had originally taken them. Further down the hall he could see the open door to the transporter chamber.

He was led to a room across from the first one they'd been in. His escorts stood back and the man who had done all the talking motioned him to enter. Turning sideways so as not to bump Hoshi's head on the door jamb, Reed made his way into the room.

Shidak rose from a couch as Reed walked into the room.

"What a pretty picture," Shidak said. "The Human masquerading as a Klingon captain being carried by her faithful lapdog."

Reed glared at the man, refusing to be baited. Without asking permission, he moved to the couch and carefully put Hoshi down.

Glancing at her face, he saw her eyes were open a crack, and she had a slight smile on her face. He frowned at her, and she immediately relaxed her facial muscles, making her mouth go slack, but not before she stuck out the tip of her tongue at him. It was a good thing that he was between her and Shidak, so that the pirate couldn't see her making faces at him.

She's loopy from the blood loss, Reed thought. Most people would just pass out and be done with it, but not his little Klingon warrior. He hoped she didn't do anything stupid -- again.

His gaze flicked involuntarily to the two large swords over the mantle, and he marveled that she had been able to hold one up, much less threaten Shidak with it.

Reed turned to face the pirate leader, who had moved a few feet away. For a few moments, they regarded each other. Reed was willing to let the silence stretch and make Shidak speak first.

"Wake her," Shidak finally said.

"I can't. You hurt her too badly, and she's in shock."

"I'm sorry about that," Shidak said, but Reed didn't hear any remorse in his voice. "You see, once I get that ship from her, I have other plans for her. I really didn't mean to damage her so much, but that just means I'll have to wait longer for what I want."

Halfway through the pirate leader's little speech, Reed feel his temper begin to rise. "If you think her crew will allow you to do that...if you think _I'll _allow you to do that...you are sadly mistaken."

"I'm never mistaken." Shidak laughed as he moved over to a table. The only items on it were Hoshi's knife and a communicator. Shidak picked up Hoshi's knife. Twirling it in his hands, he looked at Reed, then called out, "Flanim!"

Immediately, one of the men who had brought Reed from his cell entered the room.

"Get the others," Shidak informed him. "We may have to restrain the 'fleeter."

As soon as the man left, Reed tried to rush Shidak, but the pirate moved too quickly, and was behind the couch, holding the knife at Hoshi's throat.

"I don't really need her, you know," Shidak said. "I'd much rather have her around for my amusement later. And all the damage that ugly Klingon is going to cause if she doesn't cooperate will be regrettable, but can be fixed."

Flanim returned with two other men who grabbed Reed by the arms. Reed watched Hoshi's face as the pirate removed the knife from her throat and moved around the couch to stand between him and Hoshi. He could see her roll her eyes under her lids. Please, please, please, he thought silently to her, don't do anything.

"Now," Shidak said, approaching him. "Pull his head back so I have a nice, clear view of the throat I'm going to slit."

As Flanim grabbed his hair and yanked his head back, Reed heard Hoshi shout, "No!"

Despite his head being painfully held back at an uncomfortable angle, he could see Hoshi struggle to sit up. Shidak turned to face her with a smarmy smile on his face, and it was all Reed could do not to lash out at the man with his foot.

"I didn't think you were really unconscious, my dear," Shidak said. "Let me explain the situation to you, in case you haven't been listening."

Hoshi glared at him, one hand going up to touch her shoulder as if reminding herself of what he had already done to her. Shidak walked back over to the table and picked up the communicator.

"You are going to contact your ship," he said. "You will order them to send down the ship currently housed in your docking bay."

"Why should I?" Hoshi asked spitefully.

"Because I will cut your lover's throat -- right here, right now -- if you don't."

Hoshi stared at Shidak, then held out her hand for the communicator.

"Tell your Klingon watchdog not to do anything other than send the ship down," he said, holding onto the communicator before allowing her to take it.

Hoshi opened the communicator and keyed a button. Immediately Kleth's voice came through. "Mistress! Is that you?"

"Yes, Kleth."

"That son of a targ said you were resting!"

"I...was," Hoshi said. She cleared her throat and continued, "Send down the scout ship for Shidak's inspection."

"Mistress?"

"You heard me," she said more forcefully. "Send down the ship."

There was a long pause on Kleth's end. Reed was beginning to think the connection had been cut when he heard Kleth's gravelly voice again. "What about...Ma'Com?"

"Shidak believes he is a 'fleeter," she replied with a glance at Shidak, who motioned her to hurry up.

"I must go," she said. "There is something here that requires my attention."

Shidak reached over and shut the communicator, eyeing her angrily.

"We both know he's with Starfleet," he said, taking the communicator out of her hand. He shook his head. "But it makes no difference. You are my hostage against your ship, and he is my hostage against you."

With a wave of his hand, he ordered, "Take them back to their cell. Let them enjoy together what little time he has left."

* * *

Tucker was running down the pre-flight checklist when Kleth entered the scout ship. 

"How soon can we leave?" the big Klingon asked as he shut and secured the hatch.

"Just a few more minutes," the engineer replied absently, concentrating on his task.

Kleth went to the bunk and sat down. Grumbling under his breath, he shifted his bulk, trying unsuccessfully to find a secure position.

"How fast can this ship go?" he asked suddenly.

"Can't tell ya that."

"You are a member of my crew, now that the captain is unavailable. I could order you to tell me."

"Well, then you'd just have to throw me in the brig again, 'cause I wouldn't tell ya. Then who would ya get to fly this thing?"

A small rumble of laughter erupted from deep in Kleth's chest, the first since they'd been beamed back to the ship.

"I like you, Human," he said.

Tucker, still running down the checklist, smiled faintly and said without looking up, "My name's Tucker, Trip to my friends."

"Trip," said Kleth, trying out the unusual name. "Doesn't that mean 'to fall accidentally' in your language?"

Tucker laughed. "Yeah, it does. But it also means 'the third,' in this case, the third in my family line with the same name."

"Ah," the Klingon said in understanding. "Your 'house' passes on the same name as a matter of heritage."

"Exactly! Now you're gettin' it."

Kleth fell silent, his thoughts turning to the situation on the planet where they would soon land. He wasn't about to hand over this ship, even if that son of a targ returned his captain and Ma'Com. It was going to be a good fight.

Tucker snapped shut the flap on the checklist and began powering up systems. "You ready?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Yes, Trip," Kleth said, then added loudly, _"Q'apla!"_

"What the heck was that?" Tucker asked, startled. "You got somethin' caught in your throat?"

"No, it is Klingon. It means 'success,'" Kelth said.

As the docking bay doors began to open, Tucker said, "Well, then, ker-plop to you, too."


	31. Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

Archer leaned over T'Pol's shoulder, watching as a tiny dot on the screen on her console moved from the Klingon warbird down to the surface of the planet.

"There are two bio-signs, one of which is Human," she reported.

"Can you tell if it's Tucker or Reed?" he asked.

"No," she said. "And there are no Human life signs aboard the warbird."

Archer straightened up. "Can you scan the planet for Human life signs?"

"I already have," she said with a slight lift of one eyebrow.

Archer let out a frustrated sigh when she didn't volunteer any more information. "And?"

Glancing over at another readout, she said, "There are a number of Human life signs, as well as of other species. There is no way to pinpoint which of the Human life signs might be Reed or Tucker. However..."

Archer waited as she adjusted some settings. He knew better than to prompt her when she was evaluating data.

"All of the life signs are concentrated in one area," she said finally. With a sideways glance at him, she asked, "Is it time to 'make our move?'"

Archer walked over to his chair and sat down as he replied. "No, not yet."

"But, sir," said Shuemaker at the communications console. "We know from that transmission that they know there is at least one member of Starfleet in the Falcon's crew."

The captain nodded. "Yes, we do, Ensign. But we don't know what the situation is. We don't know which one of the two they were referring to." Probably Reed, he thought to himself with a grim smile before continuing, "And there have been no open signs of hostility. Until that happens, or until we hear otherwise, we stay put."

Come on, Reed, contact us somehow, Archer thought. We're in position. We didn't come all this way to watch from the wings.

* * *

Hoshi stumbled several times on the way back to the cell. Once, as she rebounded off a wall, Malcolm reached out to steady her and she slipped a knife, handle first, into his hand as unobtrusively as possible, guiding it to concealment under his breastplate as she leaned against him. 

Took him long enough to catch on, she thought. She could have hurt herself, what with all the slipping and stumbling she'd been doing on purpose.

She caught his eye in time to catch the slightest of winks and an even slighter smile, before Shidak's guards broke them apart, shoving them to keep them moving.

They didn't talk until they were locked up. Peering out the small window in the door, Malcolm said, "They've all left, gone back up to the main level."

Hoshi sat down wearily on the ledge. Closing her eyes, she felt her body begin to shake.

Coming to sit next to her, Malcolm put an arm around her. "I do appreciate that you didn't let him cut my throat," he said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Don't joke about it!" she said. "It could still happen."

"I'm more worried about what's going to happen to you."

"If you're dead, it won't matter," she said softly.

She felt him settle back against the wall and heard his long exhalation.

"We are going to get out of here, aren't we?" she asked, trying to make her voice sound steady in the darkness but not entirely succeeding.

"I'm working on it."

She let him sit in silence, taking comfort in his closeness. He'd been careful not to bump her injured shoulder, which was now throbbing like the devil. She'd been reduced to cradling that arm against her body, as any movement sent a sharp stab of pain running from her shoulder into her neck. Trying to lean back to a more comfortable position, she gasped at the pain in her shoulder at the contact with the cold wall.

"The least he could have done was gotten some medical attention for you," Malcolm said angrily.

"He probably doesn't believe in doctors," she tried to joke.

"Some painkillers or something, then," he said in exasperation. "Surely he's got a first aid kit somewhere in this monstrosity of a castle. ... Where did you come up with the knife?"

The change in conversation threw her for a moment. "Oh," she said. "Shidak forgot to check my other leg."

"You carry a knife on each leg?"

"Only when I'm around people I don't trust."

"So," he said, "every time I undressed you aboard the Falcon and you only had one knife, you were only...half-trusting me?"

"There was that time in the shower. I didn't have a single knife anywhere on me."

"You didn't have anything else on, either," he chuckled, leaning over to peck her on the cheek.

"That's it? That's all I get?" she asked petulantly.

"That's all you're up to getting right now," he said firmly. "Besides, I've got to think of a way to get us out of here." He hesitated before commenting ruefully, "I think you've ruined any chance of Shidak trusting you."

Hoshi sighed. "I figured that out on my own. He thinks he's going to keep me here, and try to get Kleth to captain the Falcon for him."

"That will never happen."

Hoshi nodded in agreement, even though Reed couldn't see the movement in the dark cell. "Shidak thinks all Klingons are alike, ready to jump at a chance to move up in rank. He doesn't know my Klingons very well."

"Your Klingons?" he asked, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

"Yes, my Klingons. My crew," she said, pride in their loyalty coming through in her voice.

* * *

"Where are we supposed to land?" Tucker asked. 

"The coordinates are for the top of the only building in the compound," Kleth answered from behind him.

The Klingon had not been content to remain seated as Trip came in at a low level, making a wide swing around the fenced-in compound before turning around to skim over the building. He approved of Trip's manuevering. It gave him a good view of the layout of the compound.

"There!" he said, pointing out a large landing pad on top of the sprawling two-story stone building.

"Let's just hope it's reinforced enough to hold us," Tucker said, banking the ship to turn and come back for the landing. "This is gonna be a vertical descent on thrusters only. You might want to sit down, just in case."

Kleth took a last look out the front viewport. He could see a number of men gathered around the landing pad. Some of them were holding rifles. The others, he assumed, had hand weapons. What he didn't see was his captain.

Grumbling, he moved to sit down on the bunk and grabbed for something to hang on to as the ship lurched.

"Sorry 'bout that," Tucker called over his shoulder as the engines shut down and the thrusters kicked in. "I'm not used to drivin' this model."

The descent was smooth as the ship began moving slowly downward. There was barely a bump as it settled onto the roof.

His hand on the latch to open the hatch, Kleth said, "Let me do any talking, Trip."

"Don't have to worry 'bout that," the engineer replied. "But I'm right behind ya, just the same."

Kleth opened the door and stepped out, not intimidated by the armed men surrounding the vessel. He heard Trip climb out behind him.

"Isn't this the part where we ask to be taken to their leader?" Trip asked nervously after he shut and locked the hatch of the ship.

One of the man motioned with his rifle for them to start walking, but none dared approach them to relieve them of their weapons. In addition to a disruptor on each hip, Kleth had a long sword in a scabbard attached to his belt. Trip had a disruptor tucked in his belt and a dagger sheathed on his boot.

Kleth snarled as he passed the men, heading for a trap door in the roof where he could see stairs leading down. Upon reaching the stairs, he started down without sparing a glance for those following. Tucker clambered down behind him.

Two stories down, two more pirates were waiting. With a jerk of his head, one of them indicated they should follow him, and they set off down the corridor. Glancing back over his shoulder, Kleth saw only two of the men from the roof following them. The others must have remained behind to guard the scout ship.

A door was open at the far end of the hall, leading to yet another flight of stairs. Kleth stopped and growled. If they were to go down these stairs, they would be below ground level. It could be a trap.

"Where is Shidak?" he roared, his hand reaching for one of his disruptors.

"Right here, Kleth."

Kleth whirled, as did Tucker behind him, to see Shidak standing in one of the doorways lining the corridor.

"Where is my captain?" Kleth demanded, advancing on the man and having the satisfaction of seeing him take a step backward.

"She's down there," Shidak said, pointing to the stairway. "She was a bit...indisposed."

When Kleth made no move to back off, he continued, "We had a bit of a disagreement. Surely you, a Klingon, can understand how that can happen. ... I have an offer to make to you, Kleth."

Kleth growled, but his building rage was interrupted by the touch of a hand on his arm. Looking down he met Tucker's eyes, which were urging caution. The Human was right -- he should listen to Shidak first. Then he could tear the man to pieces.

* * *

Kleth was seething. Shidak had the gall to suggest that he, Kleth, should take over command of the Falcon and work for him, and leave his mistress behind here as the pirate leader's plaything. Yes, Kleth thought, Shidak knew something of Klingons, but not enough. 

In a way, Kleth was enjoying the encounter, this strategic maneuvering of words instead of weapons. But his overriding concern was his mistress and her safety. All he'd been able to learn from Shidak was that she had been injured fighting him, and that Ma'Com was with her.

Kleth's smoldering rage narrowed his thought processes to a startling clarity. While most Klingons would have run the son of a targ through without a second thought, Kleth was not the average Klingon. His first duty was to his mistress, who had first claim on killing Shidak.

"I must see my mistress for myself," he said. "Bring her."

"But, surely, there is no reason for that," Shidak countered.

"I must see her to renounce my allegiance," Kleth said, telling the truth about how such things were handled, but not saying that he would actually do it. "And bring that other one, that Human who insinuated himself into our midst. I will kill him with my own hands."

A smile of anticipation crossed Shidak's face as he ordered his men to bring the pair.

"I must say," Shidak said as his men left the room, "I believe I will enjoy working with you, Kleth. You have a certain...directness...in what you do."

Kleth answered with a low growl, his eyes never leaving the man.

A few feet away, Tucker shifted uneasily. Kleth was aware that Trip had been slowly putting distance between them, so as not to make an easy target bunched together. These Humans constantly surprised him -- he hadn't thought Trip would be much of a fighter, but he obviously understood something about tactics.

The sound of footsteps interrupted any further conversation, and Kleth looked to the door in time to see Hoshi, walking on her own but with a bandage around her shoulder, enter the room. She was followed by Ma'Com and two of Shidak's guards.

Kleth saw Ma'Com touch his breastplate and make a flicking motion. Ah, so the little warrior did have a weapon hidden away. That was good to know.

"Kleth!" Hoshi said, rushing toward him, only to stop when he snarled at her.

"Kleth?" she asked, puzzled.

"Shidak has made me an offer," Kleth rumbled. "He wants me to captain the Falcon."

"And?" she asked.

Drawing his sword out of its scabbard, the Klingon said, "There are certain advantages."

Hoshi retreated a step and bumped into Reed, who pushed her behind him.

"You will remain here," Kleth told her, advancing on Reed, the sword held before him. "But first, I must take care of this spy who has taken over your bed."

Still slowly advancing, certain that Shidak couldn't see his face from where he was standing, Kleth tried something he had seen Hoshi do -- he winked. Reed immediately put his hands up at shoulder level, as if surrendering, but close to the opening where the knife was hidden.

Kleth lunged.


	32. Chapter 32

CHAPTER 32

Reed caught the slight inclination of Kleth's head to one side. Hoping he had guessed correctly that it was the direction in which he was supposed to duck and not the direction in which Kleth intended to stab, he jumped to his left, pushing Hoshi with him just as the Klingon thrust the blade forward.

Reed knew a moment of relief as the blade whistled by him. The man standing behind him wasn't so lucky. He was run clean through on the blade, his mouth making a startled "O" without any sound.

Reed didn't wait to see what Kleth would do next. He reached under his breastplate for the knife Hoshi had given him, grasped the handle firmly and pulled it out, his arm picking up speed as he continued the motion to slash out behind him without looking. He heard a grunt and, following through on his momentum, turned to see the other pirate guard on his knees, clutching at his upper arm. A swift kick to his head toppled him over.

Kleth had managed to free his sword from the body of the man he had run through by the simple expedient of putting one booted foot on the man's torso and giving a push with it. The sword being the only thing holding the man up, he fell with a heavy thud as soon as his support was removed.

Kleth turned back to Shidak, intending to corner him for his mistress to finish off, but one look at her showed that she was in no shape to do anything. She had hit the floor heavily when Ma'Com had shoved her aside, reopening the wound on her shoulder. She was crouched on the floor, both pain and impotent anger written on her face asshecradled her useless arm. She was valiantly struggling to get to her feet, but Kleth recognized a losing battle when he saw one, and knew she wouldn't be able to stand, much less wield any kind of weapon.

Shidak, who had been stunned by the speed of the attack, reached for Hoshi's knife, still stained with her blood, where he had left it on the table. A disruptor beam struck it just as he touched it, and he jerked his hand back to see Tucker aiming the weapon at him.

The noise of the fight had attracted the attention of more of Shidak's men, and they came running down the hall toward the room. Tucker was distracted by the sound and glanced toward the door.

It was all the opportunity Shidak needed. In two quick steps, he reached one of the tapestries and slipped behind it, disappearing.

"Damn it!" Tucker said as he hurried to the tapestry to fling it back, revealing a flight of spiral stairs leading upward.

"Help Hoshi!" Reed yelled at him as he and Kleth turned to face the onslaught of pirates.

As Tucker went to Hoshi's side, helping her to stand, Reed and Kleth faced the rush against them. The pirates were impeded by the doorway, only one at a time able to enter, and Reed could swear Kleth was enjoying himself has he severely cut the first man who came through the door.

The pirate dropped his disruptor, and Reed scooped it up from the floor as Kleth swung at the second man to try to enter, slicing open his chest.

But even Klingons must have their limits, Reed realized as he saw Kleth sheath the sword one-handed while reaching for one of the disruptors at his hip with his other hand.

"Go!" Kleth ordered, loosing a shot that made the remaining pirates stay in the corridor out of his line of fire. "Take the stairs. I will meet you on the roof."

"How are you going to get out?" Reed asked as he rushed over to the stairway where Tucker and Hoshi were waiting.

Kleth was backing toward the opposite wall where there was the only outside window Reed had seen in the entire building. "Go!" Kleth repeated, firing at the doorway. "I will meet you."

Reed nodded and turned to follow Hoshi and Tucker who had started up the stairs which curved out of sight. As he climbed behind them, he heard the crash of glass being broken, followed by several more disruptor shots.

Concerned that Shidak might be setting up an ambush ahead of them, Reed passed Tucker and Hoshi, intent on taking the lead.

"Where's Kleth?" Hoshi asked worriedly, looking back down the stairs.

"He's taking the scenic route," Reed answered. "Keep an eye out behind us," he told Tucker, who had one arm around Hoshi's waist and a disruptor in his free hand.

"You got it," the engineer said.

"I think I can manage on my own," Hoshi said, removing Tucker's arm before beginning to climb again, her good hand on the wall to steady herself.

"As fast as you can, then," Reed said and sprinted up the stairs ahead of them.

He came to a closed door about halfway up. It was padlocked and looked as if it hadn't been opened in some time. Glancing down at the landing, he saw one set of footprints leading upward in the dust.

"There are men on the roof," Tucker shouted up to him, trying to herd Hoshi more quickly up the stairs. "We saw them when we landed."

"Great," Reed mumbled under his breath, adjusting his grip on the disruptor.

Any element of surprise was gone if Shidak got up there and got his men organized. He, Hoshi and Tucker would either be picked off as they emerged onto the roof or would be trapped in the stairwell, with more of Shidak's men coming up behind them.

"Time for a detour," he said and fired his disruptor at the padlock, blowing it away.

Kicking the door open, he waited a moment, then cautiously peered around the door frame. No one was in sight.

"Come on," he said, and led the way down the corridor to a similar door at the opposite end. This one wasn't padlocked, and he was able to turn the handle and open it to reveal another flight of stairs.

"Doesn't Shidak have an elevator we can use?" Hoshi said, panting as she and Tucker caught up with him.

Reed smiled at her. "Doesn't appear so," he said, and stuck his head in the stairwell, half expecting to be shot at. When that didn't happen, he stepped through the door and began climbing again.

This stairwell was like the other, made of stone and built in a spiral to follow the inside wall of what apparently was a tower.

"Are there towers on the roof?" he called back to Tucker.

"Yeah, six of 'em, like turrets. One on each corner, and one each on the long sides of the building."

Reed stopped, allowing them to catch up. "Which one is this?"

Tucker thought for a moment. "One of the corners." Before Reed could ask, he volunteered, "The ship's probably about fifty meters away, on the far side from here."

"Does anybody have anything I can fight with?" Hoshi interrupted.

Both men stared at her.

"What?" she asked with some of her old Klingon feistiness. "I may have been stabbed, but I've still got one good arm. Get me a disruptor."

"As soon as we get an extra one, you'll get it," Reed said, and saw Tucker behind her roll his eyes. "Come on. We're not getting out of here just standing around."

The group set off again, climbing more stairs until they reached the top landing where there was a door with a bar across it. Reed holstered his disruptor and carefully lifted the bar out of the brackets holding it in place. Setting it aside, he took out his disruptor again and motioned for the others to stand to the side.

He eased the door open a crack and peered out.

"They're guarding the ship," he said quietly. "I can see three of them. No sign of Shidak."

"Is the ship's hatch open?" Tucker asked.

"No."

"Good. They haven't figured out the code to open it."

As Reed continued to peer out, not only did he have a view of the ship from their position, but of the balustrade that ran around the edge of the roof. As he watched, he saw a hand come up over the railing.

"Damn it!" he said. "Kleth's about to come over the top. We've got to create a diversion or they'll cut him to pieces before he gets all the way up."

Before either man could stop her, Hoshi rushed forward and threw open the door. She strode out onto the flat roof, directly toward the armed guards.

"I hate it when she gets like this!" Reed grumbled as he threw out his arm to stop Tucker from following.

"She's gonna get killed!" he protested.

Reed grabbed his shoulder, holding him out of the open doorway. "There's less chance that they'll shoot her than they will us," he said, cautiously peeking around the door frame. "Shidak wants her."

"Shidak wants...oh!" Tucker abruptly clamped his mouth shut as what Shidak wanted her for hit him, only to open it again. "And you let her go out there?"

"Like I had a choice?"

Hoshi didn't slow down as the guards surrounding the ship pointed their guns at her. She walked to within a few feet of the man in the center of their defensive line before stopping. "Where is Shidak?" she demanded, spinning in a circle as if looking for him.

Reed glanced at the balustrade. Kleth's arm was now hooked over the railing and he could see the top of the Klingon's head. If any of the men guarding the ship turned to their right they would see him.

Hoshi kept up her monologue, deliberately walking in the opposite direction of Kleth's location.

"Well, where is he, that worthless, misbegotten excuse for a pirate?" she yelled at the men, the closest of whom took a step back from her. "What does a girl have to do around here to get some attention?"

"As soon as Kleth gets over the railing, you take out the one on the right," Reed told Tucker, lifting his own disruptor to aim. "I'll get the one in the middle."

"Kleth gets the one closest to him?"

"That's what I'm hoping."

Hoshi was making a show of going around the front of the scout ship and standing on tip-toe to look in the window. "Has he figured out how to access the locking code? If he doesn't, he's going to have to cut up his pretty new ship to get in," she jeered.

All three guards were looking at her, their backs to the open doorway where Reed and Tucker were hiding. Reed could only believe that Shidak had given orders not to harm her. Otherwise she'd have been dead by now.

He saw Kleth throw a leg over the balustrade and haul himself up in one smooth motion. "Now!" Reed told Tucker, and opened fire.

Reed's target went down, as did Tucker's. The third man, who had spun in their direction and put his back to Kleth, was dropped by a bolt from the Klingon's disruptor.

As they ran for the ship, Reed ordered Tucker, "Get it open and get her inside."

He and Kleth maintained a lookout, scanning the rooftop and turrets, as Tucker punched in the code. Hoshi had come to join the engineer and was waiting impatiently as, having hit the wrong number, he had to start over.

"Tucker!" Reed yelled.

"I'm workin' on it!" the engineer called back. "There! Got it!"

The hatch hissed and Tucker grabbed the edge yank it open. He had turned to help Hoshi get in when a disruptor bolt struck the ship's hull not more than a meter away.

"Stand where you are and drop your weapons!"

Reed whirled around to locate the owner of the voice, and a phase pistol blast near his feet convinced him to drop his gun. Next to him, Kleth did the same.

An opening shimmered in the nearest turret, and Shidak stepped through. Holographic technology, Reed realized, had hidden the opening.

"Thank you for unlocking the ship for me," Shidak said with a smirk. "Didn't you wonder why there wasn't any resistance to your escape?"

Another man had followed Shidak out of the turret. Reed didn't recognize him, but he heard Hoshi gasp.

"You don't know my friend," Shidak said to Reed, "but our girlfriend does. Let me introduce you to Vice Admiral Nolan."


	33. Chapter 33

CHAPTER 33

Hoshi and Tucker were standing by the open hatch of the scout ship as Shidak and Nolan approached. Malcolm and Kleth were a few feet away, off to one side.

Hoshi raised her good arm, which she had been holding behind her. In her hand she held a disruptor she had taken from one of the pirates who had been downed. All the anxiety, all the frustration, all the anger that had been mounting over the last few days came crashing down around her as she saw the smug smile on Nolan's face.

"You son of a bitch!" Hoshi screamed.

Shaking with rage, both at Shidak for the death of Matthew and at Nolan for using her, she fired. She wasn't sure which man she despised more, and her moment's hesitation allowed Shidak to dodge to one side.

Her shot hit Nolan squarely in the chest. In morbid satisfaction, she watched as his body disappeared, disintegrating under the effects of the disruptor blast.

Without warning, she was grabbed around the waist and forcefully tossed into the scout ship. She tumbled to the floor, managing to avoid hitting her bad shoulder, and looked up to see Tucker rushing past her to the pilot's chair. He hurriedly accessed the controls, initiating the start-up sequence.

As she crawled over to the open hatch, she could hear weapons' fire. She ducked just in time to avoid Malcolm slamming into her as he leaped through the hatch.

"Kleth?" she asked anxiously.

"He's coming. Get out of the way!"

Hoshi rolled to one side, Malcolm to the other, as the big Klingon dove through the hatch, coming up hard against the door to the lavatory on the far side of the interior.

"Get that hatch shut!" Tucker yelled.

Malcolm scooted over to the open hatch, fired off three quick shots, and reached up to slam the hatch shut, dogging it down. "Go!" he yelled.

The ship slowly began to ascend, the impact of weapons' fire ringing on the hull.

"Those weapons shouldn't hurt us," Malcolm said in response to Hoshi's questioning look. "It's what's waiting in orbit that's going to cause a problem."

Kleth had pulled himself up and was standing to one side of Tucker at the controls. "We must contact the Falcon."

"Yes!" Hoshi said. "They need to be warned. Tell Garef to make sure the docking bay is ready for us."

Tucker keyed open the communications panel and Kleth leaned forward to relay the instructions to the Falcon. As he finished, Malcolm crowded in on the other side of Tucker and punched in a different frequency on the comm panel.

"What are you doing?" Kleth asked suspiciously.

"Getting us some help," Malcolm replied shortly. "Look at the short-range scanners -- we're going to have to run a gauntlet to get to the Falcon."

Hoshi crowded forward to see for herself. Staring over Tucker's shoulder, she could see three blips between them and the Falcon on a readout on the console.

"The Falcon can handle them," she said, and heard a confident growl from Kleth.

"Maybe so," Malcolm said, "but I wouldn't count on it if we're trying to get into its docking bay at the same time. Falcon will have to remain stationary for that, and it will be an easy target."

"I suggest you all hang on," Tucker said. "As soon as we break free of the planet's gravity, those ships are gonna come after us and it's gonna get rough."

Hoshi moved back to the bunk, bracing herself on it with her feet against the bulkhead. Malcolm found a spot on the console he could grab with one hand, and grasped the back of the pilot's chair with the other. Kleth simply widened his stance, balancing himself evenly.

"How long's it gonna take for Enterprise to get here?" Tucker asked.

"Any moment now," Malcolm replied, keeping his eyes glued to the readout. "There!"

Another blip had emerged from behind the fourth planet, headed in their direction. Enterprise would be coming into the fray on the far side of the Falcon.

Kleth had been watching another monitor. "Falcon is powering up weapons and turning to confront Shidak's ships," he reported.

Hoshi closed her eyes briefly, wishing she were on her bridge. She didn't want them going into battle without her or Kleth. They were Klingons, all but bred for battle, but most of them were young and inexperienced. She couldn't anticipate how they would act in this situation, other than to go full bore, guns blazing.

"Falcon is firing!" Kleth announced.

Sure enough, she thought, they were going for first blood. Garef would be commanding in her and Kleth's absence, and in her mind's eye, she could see him issuing orders as he remained at the helm.

As Kleth continued to report the actions of the Falcon and Shidak's three ships, her mind drifted away from the battle. She kept seeing Nolan, his face registering surprise as the beam of her disruptor hit him. She understood the process of how she had killed, the energy beam disrupting his cells. Emotionally, she was surprised to find she felt no remorse, only relief and vindication.

He had set her up. Shidak had known all along that she was going to try to kill him. Nolan had also told Shidak about Malcolm. It had been sheer luck that she and Malcolm had met before either of them had found Shidak. No doubt when that had happened, Nolan had hoped she'd kill Malcolm for him.

She had no time to dwell on those thoughts as the scout ship lurched to one side under a cannon blast fired by the light cruiser as it passed them.

"The two bigger ships are going after the Falcon," Malcolm said.

"Can't this thing shoot back?" Hoshi called from her spot on the bunk.

"'Fraid not," Tucker said. "It's built for observation and speed, not fightin'."

"Keep up an evasive course, Tucker. ... Enterprise is coming in under the Falcon," Malcolm said, watching the readout, then glancing out through the viewport where flashes of phase cannon fire could be seen amidst the circling ships. "She's firing on one of the cruisers."

Hoshi couldn't remain on the bunk. She had to see what was going on. Awkwardly getting to her feet, favoring her injured shoulder, she moved to the front of the ship, where Malcolm reached out to put his arm around her waist to steady her.

"The Falcon is opening the docking bay," Kleth said.

"Cut between the two heavy cruisers," Malcolm instructed Tucker. "They won't be able to shoot at us without getting caught in each other's line of fire."

"What about the one on our tail?" Tucker asked worriedly as he made the course change. "He's turned and is following us."

Malcolm didn't answer. Instead, he opened the comm frequency again. "Reed to Enterprise."

"Enterprise here," came Archer's voice.

"We need to get out of this fight. We're heading for the Falcon. Can you take care of the ship behind us?"

There was a moment as the sounds of commands being issued on the bridge of the Enterprise came through, then Archer's voice returned strongly, "Can do."

Hoshi, looking out the viewport, could see the Starfleet vessel veer off from an attack run on one of the large cruisers and bank in their direction.

"He's gonna come in right over us," Tucker said anxiously. "If he keeps to that heading, there's not gonna be much room to spare."

"How much?" Malcolm asked.

"Less than one hundred meters."

"As soon as we pass it, rise up on the Z axis far enough to use Enterprise as a shield from behind. Then head straight for the Falcon."

"Here it comes!" Kleth said, his eyes glued to the sight outside the viewport.

Hoshi involuntarily ducked as Enterprise, blocking out the stars, filled the viewport and swept by overhead. It was so close she could see into some of the lighted viewports and make out details, and she watched in awe as the saucer section passed by.

She was suddenly thrown against Malcolm when Tucker started the scout ship on an ascending course between Enterprise's two nacelles as soon as they appeared.

"What are you doing?" she asked nervously. "What if they suddenly change course? We'll hit one of the nacelles!"

"Calculated risk, ma'am," Tucker responded. "Right now I'd rather take that risk than keep gettin' hit by phase cannons. Our plating is only so strong. One or two more hits will destroy us."

She could see the Falcon dead ahead, being fired upon by the two heavy cruisers. The scout ship drew the pirates' attention, however, as it came up under and behind Enterprise.

"As fast as you can, Mr. Tucker," Malcolm urged.

Trip didn't bother to answer or even look out the viewport, his focus concentrated on the controls in front of him. Hoshi, Malcolm and Kleth rocked backward as the stablizers strained to compensate for the sudden acceleration.

A bolt of phase fire shot past them, followed by two more, each one closer than the last. Hoshi glanced apprehensively at Malcolm, whose face was taut with tension as he watched Tucker work the controls.

"Hang on!" Tucker said, and the bottom dropped out below them.

The scout ship dipped, swerved to one side, then the other, and came back up to its original course. The shooting abruptly ceased.

"We're between them," Kleth said. "To shoot now would endanger their own ships."

"I suggest you change speed as soon as we clear the zone between them," Malcolm said. "That may throw off their targeting."

"I can't change it too much," Tucker grunted. "We've got to slow down for docking."

Hoshi heard Malcolm sigh before he said, "Just do the best you can."

A flickering reflection on the metal hull of one of the cruisers caught her eye. "What's--"

The scout ship rocked, tossing Hoshi and Malcolm to the floor. Kleth managed to remain standing, but only because he was thrown across the back of Tucker's chair.

"The Starfleet vessel has destroyed its prey," Kleth said. "That was the shock wave from the explosion."

Lances of fire shot past the scout ship from behind, striking one of the two heavy cruisers, which careened off, its engine damaged. Taking advantage of their opponents' preoccupation with the strongly armed Enterprise which had turned and was now following them, Tucker set a straight-line course for the Falcon's open docking bay.

"Another ship -- Klingon design -- is coming around from behind Shidak's planet," Kleth reported.

"Is it a threat to us?" Malcolm asked.

"No, we should reach Falcon and dock safely before it arrives at the battle."

Hoshi's stomach clenched. She knew who was commanding the newest ship to join the battle. "It's Shidak," she said softly.


	34. Chapter 34

Author's Note: Once again, let me thank fififolle for her continued feedback and comments. It means a lot to hear someone's enjoying this. (hint, hint, to all you others who might feel the urge to comment) (ok, so I'm not subtle :) )

CHAPTER 34

The scout ship was pulled into the Falcon and the docking bay repressurized. Hoshi, who had remained where she had fallen on the floor, figuring it was the safest place to be after the last time the scout ship got hit, was helped up by Reed.

Tucker was the first one out the hatch when it was opened. "I'm goin' to engineering," he said, staggering as the Falcon rocked under a blow. "Malin's gonna need all the help he can get."

Kleth had pushed past Tucker as he spoke and had taken off at a run for the bridge. Reed, helping Hoshi, followed Kleth.

Reed hurried Hoshi as much as he could. He was worried. Her face was pale, and the farther they got from the docking bay, the more halting her steps became. He could tell her shoulder was hurting her terribly.

By the time they reached the ladder to the bridge, Reed could smell burning insulation. They stepped out on the bridge to the sight of smoke drifting from several consoles, one of them Garef's helm position. Garef himself was still seated there, operating the controls, an ugly burn across one side of his face.

Kleth was behind Garef, issuing orders as he finished spraying fire suppressant on the console.

"Bring us about!" Kleth ordered. "We will face that son of a targ and end his miserable existence."

Reed helped Hoshi to the captain's chair, and she gave him a feeble smile.

"Report!" she managed to say with some of her old forcefulness.

"The damaged cruiser is moving off," Kleth said. "The other cruiser is engaged with the Starfleet vessel, which has taken some damage but is still fighting."

"What about that new ship that came out from behind the planet?" Reed asked, moving over to the weapons' console where he lifted the unconscious Klingon who had been manning it out of the way.

"It will be in our weapons' range shortly," Kleth said.

"Incoming transmission," called out the Klingon at the communications console.

"Enterprise?" Hoshi asked.

"No. Shidak."

* * *

Engineering looked like it was the Klingon version of hell, Tucker thought as he ran to the main controls. Several fires were raging and smoke hung under the overhead bulkhead, and voices called out and were answered in guttural Klingon. 

"What's still working?" he asked Malin, who was frantically ripping open a panel to get at some circuitry.

"Nothing is operating at full strength," the Klingon panted in reply through the haze, "but it is still holding together."

A loud explosion sounded from elsewhere in the room, and Tucker heard someone cry out in pain. The Falcon suddenly reeled.

"Stabilizers have been damaged," Tucker said after regaining his balance and glancing at the monitors. He started to head for the access port. "We can't maneuver very well if we don't get them fixed."

"Stay here!" Malin yelled. "I will see to it."

* * *

Shidak's face glared at them on the viewscreen. 

"This is your fault, you bitch," he said. "I had hoped we would have been able to get along, but I see Nolan was right."

Hoshi didn't say anything. She was too furious at the man for everything that he had done, for everything he had cost her -- her husband, her self-esteem, her former life. He had played her for a fool, knowing all along that she held him responsible for Matthew's death.

Much as she'd wanted to kill him personally, she'd enjoy blowing his ship to pieces -- and him with it.

"You have cost me too much," the pirate leader continued. "I'm going to have to take my pleasure in you by seeing you destroyed."

"Not if I can help it," she heard Malcolm mutter from the weapons console as the viewscreen went dark.

Malcolm depressed two buttons, and twin lances of green fire shot out from the Falcon, striking Shidak's ship just as it entered weapons' range. The pirate's ship lurched under the barrage, but kept coming.

"Again!" Hoshi ordered.

Two more bolts were loosed, one missing as Shidak's ship veered to the side, the other striking a glancing blow.

"He has fired on us," Kleth said, adding scornfully, "finally."

Hoshi braced herself for the impact.

* * *

Tucker was trying to keep the intermix ratio balanced when the Falcon was struck as if by a giant sledgehammer. Knocked to his knees, he grasped the main control panel console to pull himself back up, only to be knocked down again when an explosion ripped through one side of engineering. 

Looking up, he could see flames rising greedily upward, thick smoke billowing from the conflagration.

"Malin!" he called out, knowing the Klingon had been working in that area.

When he didn't get a reply, he called the engineer's name louder as he moved toward the fire. Holding up an arm to shield his eyes and face, Tucker had gotten to the edge of the flames when he saw the Klingon, face down, on the deck.

He turned Malin over and grabbed him under the arms, pulling him away from the fire. The young engineer was heavy and, after pulling him a few meters, Tucker dropped under his weight.

"Malin!" Tucker said, sitting on the deck and cradling Malin. "Come on, buddy. Don't crap out on me now."

The Klingon moaned and his eyelids fluttered before opening.

"Trip?" he said in a voice soft even for a Klingon, and started coughing.

"It's OK," Tucker reassured him. "We'll get ya fixed up."

"Take care of the engine," Malin said.

"Malin? Malin!" Tucker shook the Klingon but didn't get a response. Looking into Malin's eyes, he could find no sign of life.

"Son of a bitch!" Tucker screamed.

* * *

Hoshi had managed to stay in her chair, Reed saw as he picked himself off the deck. Shidak's gunner was good, and the last shot had hit the Falcon hard. 

The battle had coalesced into pairs -- the Falcon versus Shidak's ship, while Enterprise was involved with the remaining heavy cruiser. Concentrating on weapons for the Falcon, Reed hadn't had time to check on the Starfleet vessel's status.

"Course change," Kleth bellowed, even though he stood next to Garef. "Bring us in below him. Ma'Com, fire as we pass."

Reed nodded, feeding instructions into the console.

He spared a glance for Hoshi, who was hanging on with dogged determination. She was in pain, and she had to be anxious, but he saw no sign of it, and his admiration for her, after all she had been through, increased.

He could feel the Falcon shift direction under his feet as the course change was implemented.

"Ma'Com!" Kleth called, getting his attention. "Aim for the weak spot on the belly of that ship."

Reed's brow furrowed as he looked at Kleth. "Where?"

"Directly in front of the plasma exhaust ports."

Reed nodded, tying in targeting with the scanners, searching for the right spot.

Another blast from Shidak's ship rocked them.

"Fire in engineering!" reported one of the Klingons who was monitoring ship's systems at a station at the back of the bridge.

Reed saw Hoshi glance at him in concern, knowing that Tucker was in engineering, before she asked, "How bad is it?"

"The engineers have not evacuated," the Klingon answered. "It is not too severe."

"What about casualties?" she prodded.

"Several are injured. One dead -- the chief engineer."

At first Reed thought he meant Tucker, but immediately realized it must be Malin. Then he had to turn his attention back to the weapons' console. They were rapidly closing on Shidak's ship.

* * *

Shidak was furious. It had been a long time since he had set foot on the bridge of his first prize, this Klingon ship that had become the first in his fleet of pirate vessels. It was fitting that it would be the weapon of that bitch's destruction. 

Nolan had told him that she blamed him for the death of her husband. That only would have made taking her that much sweeter.

He hadn't counted on the loyalty of her first officer, or the cleverness of the 'fleeter she was enamored with. He'd take care of all of them at once, blowing their ship out of existence, and then he'd take care of the Starfleet vessel.

He'd have to move his base of operations once he cleaned up this mess, but that was a small price to pay for keeping his empire.

* * *

Reed kept his eyes on the targeting scanner. "Got it!" he called out when the weakness on Shidak's ship was highlighted on his screen. 

"Fire!" Hoshi ordered.

Reed's fingers danced on the console, locking in coordinates and finally depressing two buttons. Once again, the Falcon spat deadly fire, and the beams found their target.

Everyone on the bridge watched the viewscreen as small flickers of flame surrounded the spot on Shidak's ship that had been hit. The flames grew, and explosions began to rip out portions of the hull.

Hoshi, still sitting in her captain's chair, was spellbound by the spectacle. In her mind, she envisioned Shidak writhing in pain, dying on his burning bridge before a final tremendous explosion obliterated the ship. She didn't shield her eyes from the excrutiating brilliance of that blast, but took fierce joy in it.

"The other cruiser is breaking off its engagement with the Starfleet vessel," Kleth reported.

Still Hoshi sat there, staring as the last embers of Shidak's ship were extinguished in the coldness of space, and with them, something inside her diminished as well.

Reed was watching her in concern, and shot a quick glance at Kleth. The big Klingon was also watching his mistress and what he saw apparently worried him as well. Catching Reed's glance, he jerked his head, indicating Reed should get her off the bridge.

"Tell Enterprise we'll assume orbit around Shidak's planet," Reed told Kleth as he helped Hoshi up from her chair. "I'll talk to Archer later. We are not to be disturbed, except for any medical assistance Enterprise can send."

Kleth nodded in acknowledgement, a small smile on his face, before turning back to his duties.


	35. Chapter 35

CHAPTER 35

Malcolm was in the captain's cabin when a medic from Enterprise arrived. He stayed out of the way as the woman fussed over Hoshi where she lay, divested of her armor, on the bunk. The medic sealed the wound and put a fresh bandage on Hoshi's shoulder. The last thing she did before leaving was give her an injection of painkiller, admonishing her to rest.

"What are you still doing here?" Hoshi asked him after the medic left to attend to the other wounded on board.

"Making sure you're going to be OK," he replied.

She looked away, afraid to meet his eyes. "You're going to have to go back to Enterprise," she said softly.

"I know."

When he made no move to leave, she looked back up at him. She could feel the tears threatening to spill over but she managed to hold them back.

He still made no move, either toward the door or toward her. He just stood there, looking down at her where she was propped up with pillows on the bed.

"Tucker seems to be having some trouble getting the transporter fixed," he finally said, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Really?" she asked.

"Really. And the docking bay door also seems to have sustained some heavy damage. Can't get the thing open at all. It may be some time before we can get the scout ship out of there."

She couldn't suppress a tremulous smile. "I suppose Kleth has informed Enterprise that no 'fleeters, other than the medic, will be allowed on board?"

Malcolm nodded, a smile slowly appearing on his face. "That's right. You have your crew very well trained."

"My crew..." She closed her eyes. "Not for much longer. I have to turn the Falcon over to Kleth."

She felt the mattress give as he sat down on the bed next to her, but she couldn't open her eyes. The pain in her shoulder was going away, only to be replaced by a numbness which reached into her soul. It didn't matter how long it took to fix everything that supposedly needed fixed -- in the end, he was going to leave.

"Hoshi," he said, taking one of her hands in his and gently stroking it. "I don't want to leave, but I have to."

"I know. It's just..."

"I know."

She felt his weight shift on the bed as he moved closer to her. The warmth of his lips announced their presence just before they touched hers. As his mouth began to possess hers, a sob escaped from her, and her arms went up to encircle him, holding him tightly, despite the dull stab of pain in her shoulder.

Gently, being careful of her injury, he eased the soft blouse off her as he kissed her. When she reached up to undo the lacings on his breastplate, he caught her hand in his.

"None of that. You're supposed to rest," he said.

He stood up and quickly took off his armor, then the clothing underneath, and crawled onto the bed next to her. Gathering her in his arms, he brushed a lock of hair back from her face and gazed at her as if memorizing every detail.

"I don't want you to go," she whispered.

"Let's not think about that now," he said, and she could see the sorrow in his eyes as he leaned down to kiss her again.

Malcolm began the slowest love-making she had ever experienced. After undressing her, he lavished attention on every square centimeter of her skin, caressing it, touching it as if it were the very first -- or very last -- time.

He was totally in control, and for the first time, she let him be. The painkiller had induced a pleasant daze, and his ministrations were heightening the sensation of floating, underscored by an insistent rhythmic throbbing below her belly.

She moaned as he moved to cover her body with his. Every nerve was so sensitive that the moment he entered her, she felt as if a dam burst when her orgasm washed over her.

Malcolm stilled over her, holding his weight on his forearms as he nuzzled her neck on the side opposite of her injured shoulder. She was floating in another realm, her only contact with reality the brushing of his lips against her skin and the pulsing throb of him.

When her eyes could focus again, she saw his blue-grey eyes gazing tenderly into hers. Then his eyes closed and he began to move slowly. She watched as the intensity of what he was feeling was etched on his face, and felt her own desire begin to grow anew.

She wanted to move with him, but his hands on her hips held her firmly in place. She raised her hand to reach behind his neck and pulled him down on her. Even in his hyper-aroused state, he was considerate of her condition, and he rested on her uninjured side.

When he groaned aloud her name as he reached his completion, it was all it took to carry her along with him to oblivion.

* * *

Reed, dressed in dark-colored civilian clothing, was waiting next to the scout ship when Tucker entered the docking bay the next morning. 

"Everything taken care of?" Reed asked.

"Yeah. Got engineerin' as ship-shape as I could," replied Tucker, who also had foregone his Klingon get-up and was wearing blue jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. He paused, a regretful look coming over his face. "Too bad Malin's not here. He woulda been real proud of how well his engineering crew is doin' to get everything workin' again."

Reed reached out and gave the engineer a squeeze on the shoulder. "He would have been proud of you, too, I think, ordering around a bunch of Klingons."

Tucker gave him a sad half smile. "Yeah. Probably."

The door to the docking bay slid open again. Hoshi, her arm in a sling, walked in. She was followed by Kleth, who was carrying a small rucksack. Both looked perplexed as they stopped a few feet away from the Starfleet officers.

"What?" Tucker asked.

"It's just..." Hoshi said, and looked at Kleth with her eyebrows raised.

"You don't look right," the Klingon finished for her, gesturing toward the civilian clothing Reed and Tucker were wearing. "You looked better in Klingon battle armor."

Reed smirked and Tucker rolled his eyes.

"We might have a different reception on board Enterprise if we showed up in full Klingon battle gear," Reed said. "You're going to be a big hit, though, Hoshi."

He mock-leered at her and she blushed, suddenly self-conscious of the way she was dressed. The form-fitting breastplate, cut low and open between her breasts and cinched at the waist, the leather-like skin-tight pants, the gauntlets, the high-heeled boots... Funny, she'd become used to it aboard the Falcon and hadn't given it a second thought in a long time -- until now.

Kleth growled, but it was tempered by a smile he gave Hoshi. "Q'apla, little one," he rumbled.

"Goodbye, Kleth," she said, grasping his forearm in a fierce grip, which he returned gently. "Take care of the Falcon."

Reed stepped back and allowed her to board the scout ship first. Tucker followed her in as Reed took the rucksack from Kleth. He nodded farewell to the big Klingon before turning to climb aboard.

"Ma'Com!" Kleth called after him.

Reed turned back, one hand on the edge of the hatch.

"Shidak's death has not ended your responsibility," Kleth said. "Remember your charge to guard her safety."

Blue-grey Human eyes locked with dark Klingon eyes as Reed replied, "I will honor my charge forever, Kleth."

* * *

"The captain wants to see you immediately," T'Pol said as Reed climbed out of the scout ship in Enterprise's launch bay. 

He acknowledged her statement with a curt nod before turning to help Hoshi step out of the ship. T'Pol gazed curiously at the Human in Klingon battle gear.

Clambering out behind them, Tucker called out, "Hey, T'Pol!"

T'Pol raised an eyebrow. "There are a number of things which require your attention in engineering, Commander. I would suggest you assume uniform attire first."

"It's good to see ya, too," he said with a laugh.

"Ready?" Reed asked Hoshi.

Drawing a deep breath, she nodded. "Let's get it over with."

T'Pol turned on her heel and they followed her into the corridor, Tucker heading off in the opposite direction toward his quarters. Hoshi was groggy from another injection of painkiller, and Reed slowed his steps to match hers. Each step toward the captain's ready room was taking him farther away from Hoshi, in a manner of speaking, and the curious stares from the crew members served only to remind him of her situation.

On the Falcon, they had been blessed with their own little world, insulated from everything else. Now, back on the Enterprise, their individual circumstances were universes apart. He had his duty, while she had the consequences of the reckless course she had embarked upon half a year before.

He didn't expect there would be any charges brought against her in regard to Shidak and Vice Admiral Nolan. The pirate had been killed in a battle in which she had been allied with Starfleet. As far as Nolan, well, she had killed him in self-defense and the defense of two Starfleet officers. That's what his report would say, and he'd made it clear to Tucker that his report had better indicate the same thing. Reed had been mildly surprised when the engineer had agreed with no argument.

But there was the matter of the Estabi freighter. Even though Hoshi hadn't killed any of the Estabi crewherself, she could be held responsible as captain for the actions of her crew, despite her order that was disobeyed. He didn't know if Archer could be convinced that whatever acts of piracy committed by Hoshi, and by extension her crew, had been at Nolan's instigation.

The thought of Hoshi locked away in a penal institution was not something Reed wanted to contemplate.

T'Pol rang the chime outside the ready room and Reed heard Archer call out for them to enter. He followed the women into the room after the door slid open.

Archer rose from his seat behind the desk and greeted them, his face openly curious as he took in Hoshi's appearance.

"Captain Sato, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said graciously, taking her uninjured arm to lead her to the couch.

"Thank you," she said, carefully sitting down and perching on the edge of the seat as if ready to take flight at the first hint of danger.

Looking to T'Pol, Archer said, "You may go."

"Sir, as security officer, I should be here when you are in the presence of a potentially dangerous--"

"I don't think Captain Sato poses a threat to me," Archer cut her off. "Besides, Commander Reed will be here with us."

T'Pol shot Reed a glance which indicated she didn't entirely trust him either, but complied with Archer's order without further protest. After the door shut behind her, Archer looked at Reed.

"Glad to see you made it back in one piece," he said.

"Really, sir?" Reed couldn't help asking, but he tempered the sarcastic tone with a slight smile.

Archer rolled his eyes. "Reed, you are one lucky son of a... Ah, you're lucky Shidak didn't have you walk the plank or whatever it is modern-day pirates do."

"Excuse me," Hoshi interrupted. "I'd like to know what's going to happen to me now."

Archer regarded her thoughtfully before speaking. "Commander Reed has informed me about Vice Admiral Nolan's involvement in Shidak's piracy operation. Were you aware of that when Nolan contacted you?"

"No. He told me he was with Starfleet Intelligence and encouraged me to make contact with the pirates."

Archer seemed to mull that over as he went to sit behind his desk. Reed remained standing at parade rest next to the couch where Hoshi sat as Archer called up some information on the computer. Archer read for a few moments before turning to Hoshi.

"Nolan had a long career, mostly undistinguished," he said. "I have no idea why or how he became involved with Shidak." Leaning back, he continued, "An investigation is underway back on Earth. No doubt it will take some time to find out everything, but what's been uncovered so far seems to indicate Nolan was Shidak's inside contact in Starfleet."

"How will that affect Captain Sato, sir?" Reed asked, and earned a grateful smile from Hoshi for asking her own unvoiced question.

"At the very least, Starfleet will want her to come back to Earth so she can give a deposition on the pirate organization," Archer said.

Archer cleared his throat as if what he had to say next was distasteful. "There's also a possibility, despite all the help Captain Sato has given us in bringing down Shidak's operation, she will be held accountable for some of the incidents which occurred while the Falcon was under her command. The most serious, of course, is the attack on the Estabi freighter."

Reed glanced at Hoshi, who had closed her eyes tightly at Archer's words, and his heart went out to her. She wouldn't fight whatever punishment they proposed for her, he knew. Her remorse when she had told him about the incident had made it clear she believed she was responsible for those seventeen deaths, and she didn't run from her responsibilities.

"According to the preliminary report Commander Reed sent to me this morning, you ordered that no one was to be killed, but your crew willfully disobeyed," Archer said. "Those crew members, however, are Klingon, and Earth has no treaty or extradition agreements with the Klingon homeworld."

Archer leaned over to press some buttons on the comm panel on his desk. Reed heard the distinctive beeps of a ship-to-ship frequency being opened before Archer resumed speaking.

"We have no jurisdiction over your crew members, Captain Sato. We cannot hold them liable. However, since the Falcon was under your command and you still retain Earth residency, technically, you can be brought to trial if the Estabi wish to hold you accountable."

Reed didn't know what Archer was getting at. This wasn't what the captain had implied when he had talked to him last night, when he had left Hoshi sleeping in her cabin. Archer had said he would do all he could to help her.

And why was he opening inter-ship communications from his ready room?

"Sir, don't you think--" Reed began but was interrupted by the whine of a transporter. He turned toward the sound and saw Hoshi dematerializing, and her expression of shock was mirrored on his face.

Reed shot a look at Archer, who didn't seem the least bit surprised. "Sir?" he began, but was interrupted once more, this time by a hail from the bridge.

"Captain Archer?" came T'Pol's voice. "The Falcon has just left orbit. Shall we pursue?"

"Yes," the captain replied. "We'll be right out."

Archer got up from his chair and strode past Reed, who felt as if he had been stunned by a phase pistol. First Archer had privately told him he would try to help Hoshi. But when the time had come to reassure her, Archer had deliberately stressed the trouble she was in, but at the same time he had allowed a transmission of his remarks to be broadcast to the Falcon. Kleth had to have been listening, and had beamed Hoshi back aboard the Falcon, which had left orbit at once.

He could appreciate the cleverness of Archer's plan, but now he was ordering Enterprise to pursue the Falcon so he could...what? Add fleeing the authorities to the list of charges against Hoshi?

"Come on, Commander. Don't just stand there with your mouth open," Archer said as he passed Reed on the way to the bridge.

Reed quickly followed him onto the bridge, only to stop short at the picture on the viewscreen. They were still in orbit around Shidak's planet.

"What seems to be the problem?" Archer asked Mayweather at the helm.

"The warp engine is offline, sir," he said. "Commander Tucker took it down a few minutes ago for some repair work he said couldn't wait."

Archer glanced at Reed and raised one eyebrow as he stabbed the comm panel on the armrest on his bridge chair. "Archer to Engineering."

"Tucker here."

"How quick can you get the warp engine back on line?"

"Back on line?" Tucker's voice came back laced with confusion. "Sir, you ordered me to take it down as soon as I came on board. Now you want it back up again?"

"I know, Trip. How long?"

"Well, we've got a lot of the circuitry pulled out for diagnostics, and we're short-handed because of injuries from the fight."

"A rough estimate, then."

"Two hours. Maybe three."

"That's fine, Trip. Thank you."

Archer thumbed off the connection and turned to Reed where he was standing on the higher walkway which ran around the bridge.

"Thank you, sir," Reed said, and truly meant it, even though he now knew what a broken heart felt like. She was leaving him, and he probably would never see her again.


	36. Chapter 36

Author's Note: Ta-da! This is it! The final chapter. Thanks to everyone who's kept up with it. I know it got kind of long, but I couldn't help it! And, btw, there is a sequel, already written, just about as long...if anyone is interested.

Truly, I would appreciate some feedback. Did you like it? And if so, why? Thanks again.

CHAPTER 36

EPILOGUE

Hoshi smiled as she watched the Estabi mother and child leave the medical clinic. The little girl was being treated for a recurring skin problem, and new techniques at the clinic were making headway in the poor thing's condition. The girl was laughing, and the sound lifted Hoshi's spirits.

She waved goodbye to the receptionist and walked out the front door. It had been a long day. She had visited three of the clinics she had established since arriving on Estab five months ago. Tomorrow she'd visit two more.

Her life had become more settled once Kleth had beamed her out from under Captain Archer's nose. Not at first, of course, but shortly thereafter.

Kleth had practically kidnapped her. Beamed aboard the Falcon's bridge with no warning, she had been dumbfounded when Kleth and every other Klingon had dropped to their knees, fists to their chests, in a show of homage to her. If it hadn't been for the painkiller still numbing her, she would have burst into tears right there, embarrassing the whole lot of them.

In the highest tribute to her, Kleth had renounced his claim on the Falcon, offering it to her for command again. She had been so overwhelmed that she had seriously considered it for a whole day before giving her answer. With a ripple of amusement, she remembered the look on his face when she had turned him down. She hadn't been able to tell if he had been disappointed or relieved.

The strongest factor in her decision to decline resuming command was the way she felt about Malcolm. If she remained on the Falcon, she'd never see him again.

Not that there was much chance of that anyway, but there was always the possibility her Klingons would become renegades again, and she'd be looking over her shoulder all the time. She didn't want to live like that, with her on one side of the law and knowing Malcolm would be on the other.

She'd heard from Malcolm only once since Kleth had spirited her away. She had been trying to access her financial accounts and found them to be still blocked. Part of Starfleet's response to her involvement with pirates, she supposed.

Frustrated, she had tried to hack her way in, and an alarm had flashed on her console. She had activated some sort of sleeper message which had been waiting for her attempt to access that account. She had watched in fascination as words popped up on the screen.

"Accounts now accessible. Suggest moving them elsewhere ASAP. Ma'Com."

She didn't know what she expected, but that wasn't it. Some words of love, perhaps. Still, she was grateful for his assistance. Without it, she wouldn't have been able to get to her money and establish the foundation on Estab which was helping so many people.

She longed for more, however. What she was doing now was satisfying, but it was missing the one thing she wanted most -- Malcolm. Somehow, though, she couldn't picture him in such a tranquil setting. It was almost as an unsettling vision as her commanding the Falcon again.

It had been six months, and she had almost resigned herself to never being able to share her life with him. She'd have to cherish what they'd had, just as she cherished her time with Matthew, looking back on both those periods of her past with fond remembrance.

She inhaled deeply, trying to shake her melancholy mood as she walked toward the place she called home. It was spring in this part of Estab, and fragrant, flowering bushes lined the walk. She couldn't ask for a more peaceful, beautiful place.

The Estabi were open and friendly. She had never told them the reason she felt compelled to help them, and they never asked. She would make restitution in her own way. With her fortune from the sale of the shipping business, she could do a lot more good where she was than if she was locked away in prison.

She had bought a little cottage at the edge of this settlement, and had purposely made the local clinic her last stop today. She enjoyed walking, and it seemed the perfect way to end her work day, strolling amidst the calm surroundings on her way home.

Kleth was due any day now. She was handling the paperwork for the trade route he had established. That much she would do gladly for her old friend, although every time he visited he tried to talk her into rejoining the Falcon.

He missed her, she knew. His ploys to get her back aboard were now bordering on the absurd, each one more outrageous than the last. During his most recent visit, he had offered her, in lieu of command, the position of ship's cook. That would last about one meal with that crew and, respectful of her or not, they'd probably shove her out an airlock. Gagh wasn't on her list of recipes.

She was still smiling as she unlocked her cottage door and entered. She wasn't sure when Kleth would arrive, so she had made no plans, either for herself or for when he got there.

Tonight she was looking forward to relaxing. Much as she enjoyed her work overseeing the operation of the medical clinics, cramming three visits into one day had been tiring.

She opened a bottle of wine, poured herself a small glass and took it into the bathroom. Setting it on the rim of the tub, she turned on the water and dumped some bubble bath in. A long, hot soak would be divine. Afterward she'd see about fixing something for dinner.

She undressed and was about to step in the tub when the door chime sounded. It had to be Kleth. Only he had such timing, she thought, recalling the time he had found her and Malcolm in bed in the captain's cabin.

Donning a robe, she belted it around her waist and went to the front door. Throwing it open, she wasn't surprised to see Kleth. What did surprise her was that he was standing with his back to her, surveying the property.

"This suits you, little one," he said, his eyes taking in the profusion of flowers as he reached out to touch one which was trailing over the porch railing.

"Oh, are you saying I'm a delicate flower?" she teased.

"You appear to be like them," he said, turning to face her, "and many of them have thorns."

She chuckled as she ushered him into the cottage. "Blood wine?" she asked.

"Need you ask?" he countered, sitting down heavily on the couch.

She grinned as she pulled out the flagon she kept for him under the counter in the kitchen. Grabbing a mug from a shelf, she took it and the blood wine into the living area and sat down in a chair across from him.

"Here you go," she said, placing the items on a low table between them. "Serve yourself. I'm not about to give you any more ideas for jobs for me on the Falcon."

He grunted as he unstoppered the flagon and poured himself a generous amount. Raising the mug to his lips, he swallowed the entire draught. Hoshi watched the procedure with an indulgent smile. Some things never change, she thought.

"I have brought more contracts for you to look at," he said, setting the mug back down on the table and pouring himself another helping.

"I've got the last batch ready for you, too," she said, reaching over for a data padd on the end of the table and handing it to him. He tucked it in a pocket.

"Don't you want to look at them?" she asked as he passed her a different data padd he took out of another pocket.

"No," he replied honestly. "You have done excellent work so far. There is no reason to suspect these will be any different."

His expression suddenly became guarded as he looked at her, making her uneasy. Something was going on in that Klingon mind of his.

"Have you heard from Ma'Com?" he asked suddenly.

She was taken by surprise. In all his visits, he had never once mentioned Malcolm.

"No," she answered warily after a moment. "Should I have?"

Kleth grunted. "He is your chosen one."

"Kleth," she started, then sighed. "I'm not going to discuss this with you."

"You want him."

Hoshi stared wide-eyed at him. She had almost forgotten how direct Klingons could be. It was one of the things she admired about them but, in this particular case, she would rather he leave well enough alone.

"You do not have to answer, little one," he rumbled softly. "I know."

She watched as he finished his blood wine. When he stood, she was startled.

"You're leaving already?" she asked, getting to her feet as well.

"There are matters that demand my attention aboard the Falcon," he said, reaching for his communicator. "And there is another matter that will occupy you here."

This had gone beyond unusual to downright strange. Kleth generally would transport to one of the public pads in the settlement and walk to her cottage when he came to visit. He'd leave the same way. He'd never used his communicator to call for a beam-out.

"Now," he said into the communicator, but instead of Kleth dematerializing, someone else was beaming into her living room.

As the longed-for features coalesced, Hoshi's legs almost gave out. She tore her eyes away from the materializing figure long enough to glance at Kleth and saw a look of satisfaction on his face. She quickly shifted her gaze back to Malcolm, her breath coming more quickly as the transport process was completed.

For a moment they stared at each other, she drinking in his eyes, the dark hair, the chiseled features, the uncertain but hopeful smile on his lips. She couldn't blink her eyes for fear he would vanish.

A rumbling noise broke her focus, and she turned to Kleth again. He was grinning at them. He stepped over, clapped Malcolm on the shoulder, and gave him a shove in her direction.

She raised her arms as Malcolm reached her and held him tightly, feeling Malcolm crush her to him in return.

Looking through her tears over Malcolm's shoulder at Kleth, she whispered, "Thank you."

* * *

A second wine glass was sitting next to hers on the edge of the tub. Both glasses had been emptied. 

They had made love in her bed, but when Malcolm had gone into the bathroom later and seen the neglected bubbles, he had let the water out, run fresh warm water and had playfully pulled her out of bed and into the bathroom. It was a tight fit, but they both were able to sit in the tub, she in front of him, leaning back against his chest, as they sipped the wine.

"This is much better than your shower on the Falcon," he said as he slowly ran a washcloth over her neck.

Hoshi closed her eyes and sighed. "And we don't have to worry about Kleth barging in."

She felt his chest vibrate against her back as he chuckled. "If he did, we could ask him to bring us more wine."

"Only if you want blood wine," she retorted and languidly splashed a few drops of water back at him.

"No, thank you," he said, moving the washcloth over to her shoulder and tracing the small scar left by the wound Shidak had inflicted. "Does it still hurt?"

"Only before it rains," she said. "I'm considering going into meteorology with this new weather prediction talent I've developed."

She fell silent as he continued stroking her with the washcloth, occasionally dipping it in the water to warm it again. She'd deliberately avoided talking about their situation. She realized she was living in the moment, not thinking about when he would leave but instead savoring every moment he was with her.

"Hoshi..."

Here it comes, she thought. He's going to tell me he can't stay. She tensed in anticipation and felt his answering hesitancy. She took a small measure of comfort in the fact that he didn't like what he was going to tell her.

"I've resigned my commission with Starfleet."

"What!"

She sat up and scooted around to face him. He was giving her that half smile of his, the one that meant he wasn't sure how she would react but was hoping that she'd be happy.

"I'm no longer in Starfleet," he said.

"I heard you the first time," she said. "I just never expected you to do that. You can't... What are... Why?"

He grinned and reached for a towel. Handing it to her, he said, "I've been planning to leave Starfleet ever since you were beamed off Enterprise."

As she stood up and started to dry herself, he grabbed another towel and began to do the same.

"But, I don't understand," she said. "You never contacted me, other than that message about my accounts. You never gave me any indication..."

Once again her voice trailed off as she struggled to comprehend what he was saying and tried not to be too hopeful of what he had yet to actually say. To cover her confusion, she grabbed her robe and put it on.

"You don't have any men's robes around here, do you?" he asked and grinned when she shook her head. "I'll have Kleth beam down my things later. I should have something in with them. In the meantime..." He wrapped a towel around his waist.

"Your things?"

"You're going to make me call you an idiot again, aren't you?" he said, and took her into his arms. "I'm staying, Hoshi."

As the magnitude of what he was saying finally sank in, she realized their surroundings perhaps weren't the best place to be discussing their future. She was almost certain of what he was going to do, and they needed at least to get to the living room. She didn't want to tell her future children that their father had proposed to her in the bathroom after they had just taken a bath together.

She gently released herself from his embrace. She pushed past him with a smile and went into the living room where she sat down on the couch. Malcolm's puzzled face peered at her from the bathroom doorway, and she patted the spot on the couch next to her. He came over, still wrapped in the towel, and sat down.

"What exactly do you plan to do now?" she asked.

"Kleth has offered me the position of first officer aboard the Falcon."

It should have surprised her, but it didn't. She felt laughter bubbling up in her throat and couldn't contain it.

"Don't you think I can handle it?" Malcolm asked seriously.

"No, it's not that," she said. "Do it. If you don't, he'll come up with all sorts of other jobs for you."

Malcolm's brow furrowed, not understanding. "It's only temporary, anyway."

"Oh?"

"Long enough for me to find my own ship. Then Kleth and I are going to form a shipping partnership," he said.

"If you'd rather not ship out with Kleth, I think I can afford to buy you a ship of your own," she said softly, hoping he wouldn't refuse.

She could see his pride warring with his desire. He wanted to take her up on the offer, but he also wanted to do it on his own. She decided to give him another option.

"You could always marry into it," she said, looking away. "I need someone to ship in medical supplies for my clinics here."

He gave her a small smile when she looked back. "We could start with that," he said.

"Start?"

"I expect to have a substantial fleet built up by the time the first of our children comes along."

"You better work fast," she told him, drowning in his eyes as he leaned over to kiss her.

Their lips had just touched when a beeping sound came from Malcolm's pile of discarded clothes near the bedroom door.

"Bloody hell!" he said, pulling back from Hoshi and getting up.

Holding the towel in place around his waist, he stalked over to the clothes and fumbled in his pants pockets until he found the communicator. Snapping it open with more force than necessary, he said gruffly, "Reed here."

"Ma'Com?" came Kleth's voice. "Are you ready for your things to be beamed down?"

"I suppose so," he said, looking back at Hoshi who had remained on the couch and was listening with a gleam in her eye. "I want to talk to you later, Kleth. We need to work on your timing."

--THE END--


End file.
